Grammar and Ideas Should Be Separate
March 1, 2013
This is a very short note, intended to serve as a counterpoint to the above.
No one would argue explicitly that a misplaced apostrophe in the OCRL’s sign constitutes a reason to dismiss their ideas. But dismissing ideas is probably the easiest thing in the world. We can end up doing it, implicitly, for a lot of reasons.
Repeated exposure to things like the Ronald Reagan Lectureship Series numbs the impact of disagreement. This might be a necessary thing. I think there are times when feeling the impact is important. There is somebody who disagrees with you! Why? Don’t move on. Don’t accept it. Try to find out.
Arguments, by nature, are on mutually agreed upon grounds. Otherwise they aren’t really arguments. They won’t test anyone’s statements, and they won’t convince anybody. A clear line should be drawn between what is an argument and what is not.
