The Undiscovered Country

Practice Makes Perfect?

If so, then I need a lot more practice.

I just pulled myself out of an (intentional!) Twitter debate, and I admit I’m a bit exhausted. Overall I enjoyed this one, because my opponent didn’t stoop to personal attacks. He was actually quite adept at presenting his arguments, and a few times I almost got caught by my own words.

The best (worst?) part is I could see where he was going with it, and could see his point of view quite clearly, a few times almost too late.

It started with a statement someone made, “If something is immoral, it is immoral regardless of need.”

The immorality in question pertained to government theft via taxation as far as the re-distribution of weath from the rich to the poor. The premise being that theft — the forceful taking of property without consent — is always immoral. One person (my opponent in this case), used the analogy of how murder isn’t always immoral, especially when it comes to self defense. Therefore the statement, “If something is immoral, it is immoral regardless of need” is an incorrect statement.

I maintained that murder is also always immoral, because it’s the purposeful and unlawful taking of one’s life.

If he had used a different word or act such as “killing” which is not always immoral (because killing can be justified if it’s in self-defense, if it’s an animal attacking livestock, or a weed in a garden, then it’s not always immoral. Killing can be immoral if someone killed a dog or destroyed a garden for the fun of it). Then his analogy would have worked.

So in that sense, my opponent’s point of view was spot on. The phrase, “If something is immoral, it is immoral regardless of need,” can be argued away depending on the act.

I consider myself lucky that he used “murder” as his argument and not “killing,” alcohol consumption, or a slew of others.

The discussion went back-and-forth for easily an hour with neither one of us giving ground. I finally had to bow out.

My last tweet said, “Off topic, but mostly because I have to go (my hubby is cooking pork chops!), I want to thank you for the discussion. It was informative, enlightening and challenging [boy was it challenging! Hence my exhaustion]. You kept it civil, attacking my words and not me personally which is refreshing. Thank you again.”

He responded with, “The feeling is mutual. One of the better exchanges I’ve had on here.”

High praise indeed.

All-in-all, I did okay. I could have done better by really studying the original comment as well as my opponent’s rebuttal, and looking at every possible argument for and against both before adding my first comment. I know that comes with practice, so I guess I’ll have to keep practicing.

Still, I think I will reward myself with a glass of wine.

I pray you all have a happy, stress-less and safe Easter!