vansmith
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Simply because people have divergent views doesn't mean that it's unproductive. As with anything in life, if you start a discussion with a point of view that could very well lead to diverse viewpoints, you need to be ready to defend your view. In this case, I don't think anyone disagrees in spirit but we all diverge on the details. The nitpicking isn't all that unique to this conversation especially when the original argument (yours) makes sweeping claims about huge populations of people. If we are nitpicking, you're making overly general claims which is just as troublesome to a debate/conversation.
The implication that you're making about those that disagree (as not being mature or "adult") could very well be construed as offensive and it's becoming clear that this might be what you're implying about individuals such as myself. Perhaps it would help if you refrained from framing your arguments as constructive and the rest of the posts as immature (by implication).
If the conversation goes down a rabbit hole from which we can't return, I'll close the thread. In the meantime, if the conversation can stay collegial, there's little to suggest that it isn't mature.
The implication that you're making about those that disagree (as not being mature or "adult") could very well be construed as offensive and it's becoming clear that this might be what you're implying about individuals such as myself. Perhaps it would help if you refrained from framing your arguments as constructive and the rest of the posts as immature (by implication).
If the conversation goes down a rabbit hole from which we can't return, I'll close the thread. In the meantime, if the conversation can stay collegial, there's little to suggest that it isn't mature.
Pick up a linguistic textbook or a cultural studies reader. The argument that language is concrete and not relative has been disproven in so many ways that it's just about "fact." No language is well defined - they're all historically and socially contingent, inheriting meaning from the world in which it's used. Indeed, a quick read up on semiotics illustrates this point.This forum is an English language forum and the English language is well defined, irrespective of localisation (the use of 's' instead of 'z' is British). Nothing relative about it.