The US is ranked as a 'Flawed Democracy', what needs to change?

[Paatar]

the-pi-guy said:

Paatar said:

Quotes don't mean anything other than quoting something. there are better ways to explain your meaning. Once again though, people who believe certain people shouldn't exist is not exclusive to the right. 

Quotation marks are used for plenty of things.

Quotation marks within an emphatic context should tell readers that the content in quotes means something other than what it usually would. In many cases, one might even interpret text within emphatic quotation marks as a wink to the audience

Quotation marks, also known as inverted commas, are normally used for quotation, as their American name suggests, or to mark a title (book, film, etc), or to enclose a foreign, technical, or otherwise potentially unfamiliar word. Standard use of these marks encompasses variation: they can be single or double, and may be punctuated differently around stops, depending on local conventions. Quotation marks can also highlight that a word is being used somehow peculiarly – a writer may wish to indicate irony, inaccuracy, or scepticism, for example; used this way, they’re called scare quotes. In the line: At the party I met a teacher, a journalist, and an ‘artist’, the scare quotes around artist act as a distancing device, probably signalling doubt about the person’s credentials as an artist. The effect is similar to the Irish phrase mar dhea.

Which here means, people call themselves conservative, and they hold these views. 

Paatar said:

Same thing happened with the "Don't say gay" bill--where the bill never even mentioned the word gay. It just prohibits the talk about sexual conduct, both straight and gay, in 3rd grade and lower classrooms. Which is something all of us should agree with--kids that young do not need that stuff in their classrooms. 

It does a lot more than that.

The actual bill

SEXUALLY-ORIENTED MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘sexually-oriented material’’ means any depiction, description, or simulation of sexual activity, any lewd or lascivious depiction or description of human genitals, or any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related subjects

In other words, the bill covers gender dysphoria, and sexual orientation.

There's a pretty massive difference between gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual activity.

Paatar said:

Give me a specific example of something you want me to rebuttal, and I'll provide it. 

You claimed that tolerance sometimes meant intolerance, and vice versa. Give an example.

Alright—you know exactly what I mean by explaining things better without using quotation marks. The only thing that can be done when you use them is for the meaning to be inferred. I cannot know what you mean when they’re used as I cannot read your mind and your intentions may differ. Don’t be petty. 

Being straight is included in sexual orientation. I know that sexual orientation, gender dysphoria and gender identity are different things and I never claimed otherwise. The bill does NOT target those groups. It is an all encompassing bill that prohibits that kind of discussion in those classrooms from every view point. I only used it to prove my point that people can be easily manipulated into voting a certain way. And once again, the age at which it prohibits that conversation in the classroom is the key important note. 

I never claimed that intolerance means tolerance. Re-read my statement. 
I’m not going to give an example because I don’t think this conversation is going anywhere constructive and I would like to end it. I’d encourage you to think outside the box and think of an example for yourself.

Last edited by Paatar - on 25 October 2022