I’ve been thinking about this lately and it has built for some time. A recent thread made me wish to explore the issue a bit. There are subjects where it is very hard for many people to talk rationally. Let’s say Israel or Al Sharpton or rape as examples.
Now there is a very smart poster on the Dope who I like and agree with about 90% of the time but he poisons the debates on Israel anytime it comes up. You are an anti-Semite at best if you take the Palestinian side. (Which I do not but I see some of the arguments as having merit.) Al Sharpton is a bogeyman with no redeeming qualities to a very large number of Dopers, in fact I suspect they enjoy hating him but I am not sure. I know, I spent a 400+ post thread defending him right after Rosa Parks passed away. It was also my typical argument that so and so is not a great man but dammit he is no monster and has done more positive than bad overall at least in the last decade.
This brings us to Rape and Victimhood. In a recent thread pepperlandgirl and Myrna both took a suggestion that rape prevention and rape education needs to be addressed to young men and women as saying a women that is raped after making a bad decision deserves it. Obviously I did not say that and in case anyone is wondering I do not believe that for a second. Rape is rape. The rapist should not rape even if the foolish victim did act very foolishly. By accusing others of positions they did not take and ignoring that educating people in prevention is well poisoning the well.
Now if there are any doubts, I am not mad at Myrna and Pep, I really like and respect both a lot. I enjoy chatting and interacting with them. They were nice enough to provide a recent example of “Poisoning the Well” in a debate. I think most of us are guilty of this at times and should watch out for it.
Am I perceiving a real problem or just over-reacting?