What is the 'idealized' quality of masculinity? Could it be just acting both pessimistic and confident at the same time?

I agree that I could've been nicer, but I don't agree that I suddenly blew things out of proportion. To me it seems like what I did was to be blunt about how I felt, and what bobbyf did was be insulting and dismissive in an oblique way. Saying mean things in a fancy way doesn't make it nice. And this gentle reprimand from you just seems to support that, I take this as saying "users in this subreddit can insult each other as long as they dress it up in appropriate language."

Also, do I completely not understand what a straw man argument is? Or are both of you using it wrong?

As far as I know a strawman is when you knowingly argue against a position someone didn't actually take. Now maybe I made statements that we're overly broad and too restrictive, as they claim, but that's not a strawman. And I was careful to explicitly state what position I believed I was arguing against. If I was trying to make a strawman, I was doing a terrible job at it.

Now you're telling me what they thought about how I intended to make my point and telling me that what I was thinking was that I intended to make a strawman ... Out of what? My own arguments?

It honestly seems to me saying insulting things is ok as long as you say it with the right philosophical buzz words. And then everyone thinks I "snapped" because I make it clear that I don't appreciate being insulted or spoken down to like an idiot.

/r/InsightfulQuestions Thread Parent