thread: 2005-12-03 : Closing GNS and RPG Theory is Good
On 2005-12-03, Ron Edwards wrote:
"How much charity do you have for plodding slow-learners?"
As much as time, energy, and any degree of improvement permit. I think I have a pretty good record so far.
"For lost causes?"
None. A lost cause is indicated by intellectual dishonesty, petulance, slander, and most importantly, failure to help others who can use good basic advice.
"For those too immature to realize that brusque correction contains generosity?"
Patience and willingness to start over if and when they want to, later. Lots of examples of these.
You left out "bug up their asses" regarding people who fixate on a single phrase or issue, then repeat their concern with it indefinitely without paying attention to discussions that address it. They persist as more-or-less snapshots of a given moment in the ongoing discussion, oblivious to changes or conclusions downstream in time.
The real problem is that these folks consider themselves dissenters, whereas they are really the intellectual equivalent of arrested development. They are looking for validation in terms of their past/lost moment of objection. The *actual* dissenters regarding theory at the Forge are relatively few.
With some pain, I eventually decided that ignoring these folks was necessary, because otherwise they make it impossible to help others.
