How to Disagree, by Paul Graham

If we're all going to be disagreeing more, we should be careful to do it well. What does it mean to disagree well? Most readers can tell the difference between mere name-calling and a carefully reasoned refutation, but I think it would help to put names on the intermediate stages. So here's an attempt at a disagreement hierarchy:

DH0. Name-calling.

This is the lowest form of disagreement, and probably also the most common. We've all seen comments like this:u r a fag!!!!!!!!!!But it's important to realize that more articulate name-calling has just as little weight. A comment likeThe author is a self-important dilettante.is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."



*not_secure_link*www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html

The Master of Facts can only be flamed. He cannot be refuted, because everything he says is true.

Unfortunately, some XNXX posters prefer not to be told the truth.

 

Still waiting on that proof.

 

I don't even know where to begin with this nonsense.

I will simply say that as the one making the claims, the burden of proof is on you.

 

Wakonda forever.

 

Not surprised to see the other racist posting here.

Not getting enough attention elsewhere I guess.

 

I seem to recall another racist South African poster with a Tinkerbell avatar. Hmmm......

 

I have already documented that the Egyptian civilization is much older than the Nubian civilization. Here are a few more facts for you to ignore:

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The earliest tentative evidence for iron-making is a small number of iron fragments with the appropriate amounts of carbon admixture found in the Proto-Hittite layers at Kaman-Kalehöyük and dated to 2200–2000 BC. Akanuma (2008) concludes that "The combination of carbon dating, archaeological context, and archaeometallurgical examination indicates that it is likely that the use of ironware made of steel had already begun in the third millennium BC in Central Anatolia".[8] Souckova-Siegolová (2001) shows that iron implements were made in Central Anatolia in very limited quantities around 1800 BC and were in general use by elites, though not by commoners, during the New Hittite Empire (∼1400–1200 BC)...

Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of large-scale iron production in around 1200 BC, marking the end of the Bronze Age. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of iron objects was fast and far-flung...

Nubia was a major manufacturer and exporter of iron after the expulsion of the Nubian dynasty from Egypt by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC.[69] ...

Iron and copper working in Sub-Saharan Africa spread south and east from Central Africa in conjunction with the Bantu expansion, from the Cameroon region to the African Great Lakes in the 3rd century BC, reaching the Cape around AD 400.[

[9]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age

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I do not understand the anger directed against me unless one wants to believe that civilization began among Negroes living in sub Saharan Africa.

 

You haven't actually documented anything because you haven't actually provided any proof.

All you've done is make claims then post articles.

And post snippets from Wikipedia entries.

 

That wasn't even directed at you, numbnuts.

 

You asked for proof. I gave you proof. What is more, I gave you proof about what is commonly understood to be true. You would not accept any documentation for assertions you do not want to believe.

I have not seen this PBS series. My guess is that it exaggerates black achievements. It might even maintain that Negroes began civilization, that the Egyptians learned from them, or that Egypt was a Negro civilization.

 

That's not proof.

I was directly quoting a documentary series that interviewed experts and showed the evidence. That is proof.

All you're doing is repeating imperialist propaganda.

 

Did you watch the series? Tell me in your own words what it had to say.

 

https://www.ancienthistorylists.com...10-oldest-ancient-civilizations-ever-existed/
But if you want to get the point let's discuss Catalhoyuk, established in or about 9500 BC in what is not Turkey, they had a city style settlement with farming of crops, animals, and ritualized burial practices. By the way Turkey which is not Egypt, try a mix of Europe, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Jordan. Not to mention Macedonia aka Greece, and Bulgaria. Shall I go on?
You are racist, a liar, and a homophobe.

 

Those were neolithic settlements, not civilizations. They did not have the use of metal. They did not have writing. They did not have mathematics.

I get tired of posting this again and again, but I get even more tired of your stupid insults.

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How to Disagree, by Paul Graham

If we're all going to be disagreeing more, we should be careful to do it well. What does it mean to disagree well? Most readers can tell the difference between mere name-calling and a carefully reasoned refutation, but I think it would help to put names on the intermediate stages. So here's an attempt at a disagreement hierarchy:

DH0. Name-calling.

This is the lowest form of disagreement, and probably also the most common. We've all seen comments like this:u r a fag!!!!!!!!!!But it's important to realize that more articulate name-calling has just as little weight. A comment likeThe author is a self-important dilettante.is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."



*not_secure_link*www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html

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Arguing at this level:

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DH6. Refuting the Central Point.

The force of a refutation depends on what you refute. The most powerful form of disagreement is to refute someone's central point...

Truly refuting something requires one to refute its central point, or at least one of them. And that means one has to commit explicitly to what the central point is. So a truly effective refutation would look like:The author's main point seems to be x. As he says:<quotation>But this is wrong for the following reasons...

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Requires learning and intelligence.

 

Besides, you yourself have said you are a racist.

- anon_de_plume

I certainly do not run from being called a racist. In the present environment a racist is anyone who draws attention to intrinsic racial differences in average intelligence and behavior.

 

The title of the series is the title of the thread. That should be obvious.

 

If Negroes created great civilizations in the past, why do so many of them have difficulty conforming to civilized standards of performance and behavior now? Why is there nowhere on earth a black run country with a low crime rate, a thriving economy, and a well run government?

If white racism is to blame, why in the United States have black rates of crime and illegitimacy increased since the civil rights legislation was signed?

Why has the end of the white majority regime in Rhodesia resulted in the economic collapse of Zimbabwe? Why do so many African blacks flee to white run countries?

 

The first two paragraphs have literally nothing to do with anything. If you aren't going to post about Africa then fuck off.

The answer to the third is obvious if you aren't blind.