[williamcotton]

we're figments on an internet forum to each other, which means we're mostly projection screens—we see what we imagine about each other and we're all almost certainly wrong. Discussion on that basis isn't interesting, just agitating.

The irony here is that forums like this seem to promote "small-minded technical literalism". Upvotes, downvotes, threaded discussion, and a quantified system of points are antithetic to discussions on humanistic qualities.

But you're quite right, I should strive to be more mindful.

I should find better ways to show how upsetting I find it when people dismiss well-written essays as "bullshit" but fail to actually address the content on it's own terms.

The thing is, people consistently use downvotes to lazily express that they don't agree. I don't know if there is a solution to that.

Can't you see how all of this is actually directly related to the concerns addressed by the author in the actual article? A fiery response is about as middle-brow as it gets. I take no shame in being mortal and emotional. I'm not trying to transcend humanity and live forever nor try to attain some sort of idealized state of being.

But yeah, if everyone was just shouting explicitness back and worth we'd get nothing done. Save that for the sports bars.