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A comment on The Notion of “Trolling” in Ancient Sanskrit. Parent comment

Re:The Notion of “Trolling” in Ancient Sanskrit by thomascgalvin on Sunday May 12, 2019 @12:05PM (#19892693)
It seems to me that even when a statement is prefaced with something like "just for the sake of the argument", this is just a cover, allowing the writer to state an unpopular (or hateful, or patently wrong) opinion, while hopefully shielding themselves from some of the blowback.

It's the whole "I'm just asking the question" phenomena, and I see it a lot with people who claim to be centrists but are more accurately described as right wing reactionaries. It allows them to seed the discussion with bullshit, without having to defend any of it.

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Re:The Notion of “Trolling” in Ancient Sanskrit by Fellshard on Sunday May 12, 2019 @01:32PM (#19893224)
Presuming that is always the case will also lead you to some very incharitable conclusions, and in turn lead /you/ to take up the lattermost position of the article: taking up positions solely in order to be in opposition.
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Re:The Notion of “Trolling” in Ancient Sanskrit by anigbrowl on Sunday May 12, 2019 @03:17PM (#19893849)
There's lots of rhetorical contexts where it's a valid approach if both parties are operating in good faith - ie in pursuit of some mutually agreeable truth or within the bounds of some mutually agreed-upon process such as litigation. Many bitter political debates involve the deliberate confusion of substantive and rhetorical claims for deceptive effect.
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