[ExI] Subject: Re: Human extinction

[Lee Corbin]

Stathis Papaioannou was just attacked using the following
terms and language:

> Stathis Papaioannou stathisp at gmail.com :
> 
> > Anyone who has witnessed normal childbirth and says labour
> > isn't painful is contemptuous of women.
> 
> I don't think you read my messages,

This does not follow logically. Many, many have been the
times when someone has read all of someone else's
messages but stubbornly persists in his or her own views. 
It *never* follows that just because one has carefully
scrutized the arguments (even in a math paper!) that 
one must agree with the conclusions reached.

Moreover, in the case of Stathis P., I'll go on record as
saying that there is *no one* to my knowledge who is
more likely to have carefully read all the pertinent messages
in a thread to which he contributes.

Since it is also logically possible for an email to have been
mis-delivered (some are even absent from the archives!),
the above should have been made as an inquiry rather than
as an accusation. 

> Stathis (there were many since I am obviously quite invested
> in this topic, unlike you), because you missed my point completely.

We really must make every effort to avoid arguing from authority.
Honestly, this form of improper argumentation has been growing
more and more seldom, and I'm sorry to see a re-surfacing here.

Besides, does "missing my point" mean merely "failing to agree"
or does it contend that actual miscommunication has occurred?
I don't know about the writer, but many people use that phrase
to imply that someone else is at fault for failing to agree with a
point being made.

> I find your message insulting.

That is not only a fact in the case of the writer, but  may carry
a more important point as well.  I myself have never seen even
*one* child birth, but it's possible that Stathis, as a physician,
has seen so many that honesty compels him to make the very,
very strong statement "Anyone who has witnessed normal
childbirth and says labour isn't painful is contemptuous of women."
Anyone?  That is a  real stretch, (no pun intended).
 
> I'm in the middle of an insanely busy month, I have more deadlines this
> week for setting up my funding when my contract finishes in...

That's pretty irrelevant to the argument, and to the degree that it's a 
interesting personal story, it probably ought to have been placed in
a separate email, where it would not likely be confused with improper
argumentation, (e.g. a possible seeking of personal sympathy in order
to advance a point of view---not, however, that I have any evidence
whatsoever that this is in fact what even partially motivated the digression).

Lee