[mistermann]

> I see it all the time in communities I run, people start trying to spin off alternative sites and talk about how <insert community here> impinges on free speech, and then when you check what they were banned for there's a tirade of racial slurs directed at other members of the community.

Are you suggesting that this person shares these behaviors?

[sellyme]

It depends on what you mean by "these behaviours". I'm suggesting that the author is claiming some great injustice but conveniently trying to avoid letting anyone judge for themselves, and in my experience the people doing that usually aren't the world's most upstanding citizens.

I'm certainly not suggesting that the author is prone to outbursts of racial slurs - that was just an example of something I encounter regularly, and typically that type of person is far less literate - but I am extremely doubtful that the content they're complaining about removal of is as "anti-bullshit" as they'd like to claim.

[mistermann]

> but conveniently trying to avoid letting anyone judge for themselves

Do you believe that your mind may be doing some interpretation (with or without "your" knowledge) in the formation of this conclusion?

[sellyme]

Yes, generally speaking when I'm reading something I'd hope that my mind is doing some interpretation. It would be a rather difficult activity otherwise.

[mistermann]

Agreed...the tricky part is realizing that it is doing interpretation, and realizing that what it ends up sending you is not reality, but an interpretation of reality, which is what you are discussing here (or all of us are discussing, in most any thread, or in life in general), as if it is reality itself. And then we're surprised when there are disagreements!!

The beauty of the mind though: even though it is doing this (manufacturing an interpreted version of reality in realtime), this tends to be an unpleasant idea to most people....but luckily, it also has the ability to interpret that away, allowing us to have our cake and eat it too (although this feature has some downsides of its own)!