ad hominem vs. intellectual inquiry

[a telegraph to your soul]

On Sat, 8 Aug 1998, Adassovsky wrote:

> Is it acceptable, when some participants of this list decided to discuss a
> subject,  that a person censor the subject, telling "that's enough, find
> another topic or go to the beach !" ?

That's neither censorship nor prior restraint, I think; I believe that's
more like "being fed up."  I don't know the French idiom, so my English
one will have to do for now.

> Is it acceptable that a participant tells to a French linguist : "all
> language teachers from your country are paid to lie" ? As an American
> professor, would you accept the parallel ?

If the participant believes that the French teachers are lying?  Yes.  If
the participant believes that the American teachers are lying?  Yes.

> My answers were not invectives, nor were they insulting, just a bit
> sarcastic, I confess. That's a part of my character.

More than sarcastic - they were deliberately hurtful, or at least seemed
to be.
--
"Douglas, if you set me on fire, I will scream and burn." - P. Jones