DAVE | 2007-10-13
BW says:
"You can be reasonable or you can be truthful"
"This is not diplomacy."
"Every Truth is saleable and reasonable. The truth is neither."
I say:
Do not take BWs above statement and turn it into DOCTRINE. BW did not say, "Diplomacy doesn't matter".
That would be an excuse for failing to master diplomacy, a practical necessity in the real world.
Something turns into Wordism at the very moment it furnishes an excuse for failing to do what is necessary.
ME:
The mistake Dave is pointing out is how they managed to justify the Inquisition in the name of the man who said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I meant that WE have to see what is not true, clearly and without compromise IN OUR OWN MINDS. THEN we must find a way to tell others what we have concluded. That, as Dave says, is a matter of diplomacy, advertising work, any of a number of things that we do not like to say we are doing because, to our Aryan minds, the words sound dishonest.
But you cannot just shout people into believing what is true. You have to recognize Wordism's methods and counter them. Diplomacy, war, espionage, all these are real world methods. And if you can't use them to spread the truth, a Truth will win.
Diplomacy often just means decency. The person who says he is "always frank" invariably is using that as an excuse for cruelty. Diplomacy can be a lie or kindness or a trick, depending on who uses it how.
I hope this explanation by Dave and me was unnecessary, but in any case, it makes the point that I cannot do without your applying common sense here.