@AliceFromQueens Which is why this whole thread has devolved from being about Platner himself into whether or not you are defending him. One of the reasons I believe you are drawn to your hypothesis in general is because it would work within your own worldview, which I mentioned earlier.
@AliceFromQueens Don’t get caught up on the example. I simply offered one alternate explanation—the likelihood of either doesn’t matter as much as there being many possibilities. You choosing a relatively flattering hypothesis functions as a defense, whether that was the intention or not.
@AliceFromQueens But like you said, he clearly wasn’t always planning on running for senate. Was it a misunderstanding or did he actually have a nazi/whire supremacist phase? He’s clearly not one now, but that doesn’t mean his intentions were the same in the past.
@AliceFromQueens This is the point tho. We don’t know why he did it. If you offer a version that’s more amenable to him then you are inherently offering a defense. We will probably not ever know exactly what possessed him to do that.
@AliceFromQueens Here’s an alternate that doesn’t wash his image: he knew the symbol and didn’t care. Perhaps even enjoyed the possibility of someone noticing it and not wanting to confront him, a former vet, at a celebratory affair.
@AliceFromQueens These are all better things than secret Nazi, no? We’ve elected some terrible people, but being an outed Nazi *probably* enters unelectable territory.
@AliceFromQueens The theory of mind you’ve built for why he has the tattoo is favorable to him and serves as a defense of his actions, should it be accurate. You don’t have to outright say you are defending him for your words to do so.
@AliceFromQueens Your whole premise is hiding your argument with a weak motte and bailey. You are using “what I think he thought” to launder your version of why it would be acceptable for him to have that tattoo and still be elected. That’s the problem.
@AliceFromQueens What is grating is acting as though you have logic'd your way through the contradiction in your argument and all objections are off-base, simply because you are good at the logical reasoning tested on the LSAT. Especially when you are instead just experience cognitive dissonance
@DaleCloudman@romanhelmetguy Yes, trust me, we are all painfully aware of the nepotistic hiring processes that have flooded the tech sector with millions of Asians and Indians. The fact that it has coincided with the crash of the tech sector is not unnoticed either.