Regardless of the dubious status of RRM around Litherland, I think he has made a reasonable point—or at least is trying to make a reasonable point—and you, oh so Homey Haus, have largely used your standard stock of cheap rhetorical skills to avoid the issue, while also making the person who raises the issue look rather stupid. You are, after all Haus, a v. clever fellow.
The point as I perceive it (and I too feel it is important) is that some people might tend to bandy about, what I will call “Panic Words,” without much sincerity or seriousness for the actually rules of use of the word. Put differently, some might use these words to invoke a panic response (typically an irrational, narrow, and biased POV) in fellow members of their herd.
Certainly, there are times when words like ‘harassment’ and ‘threat’ need to be used because that is exactly what is occurring; however, at other times, some people can use these words merely as a device to garner support and preference from their “friends” (and here, wrt to our online community, Nick’s thread in the conversation on Barbelith “friendship” seems particularly relevant).
The idea here being (and this, I think, is RRM’s point in a nut shell): Panic Words” are serious words which invoke serious responses; however, these words are also open to misuse and abuse: we must therefore be careful of both their use and our response to their use.
I mean, on the one hand, we’ve all read (or had read to us) “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” On the other hand, I myself am still effected by fallout from a handful of one particular (ex?)member’s “friends” who have decided to interact (or cease to interact!) with me in particular ways based on this member’s cries of harassment and threats allegedly prompted by me, and perpetuated by a small but sinister group of co-conspirators. From time to time this issue (disguised in several different but mostly transparent ways) rears its ugly head wrt my Barbelith experience.
Anyway, I entirely agree that there is potential for misuse of certain bits of language—we sometimes need to make the effort (which can be too much for us sometimes) to be compassionate, patient, and generous not only in our use of certain words, but our interpretations of transmissions which contain such words. |
