Damn, I hate put-downs. You know when, instead of offering a substantive argument, somebody writes “You just say that because you’re stupid/ignorant/lazy/a socialist/a fascist/what-have-you”. Presumably the intent of such an approach is not to communicate or convince but to injure the other party (or inflate the exponent). It’s small.
The high road, of course, is to ignore such vapidity. But I guess I don’t have a high enough self-image (or maybe too high a self-image) to leave well enough alone.
You can respond by yelling back. That might be emotionally satisfying in the short term but it usually just leaves me feeling worse.
I typically respond as though it were a substantive argument and refute it. And (perhaps unfortunately and no doubt due to my Jesuit training) I attempt to refute it as soundly as is humanly possible.
I myself have always also hated when people attempt to “pigeon-hole”. For one thing—so often, those who try this have it completely wrong in the first place. Why do they bother? I think if one doesn’t have something to say, one should just keep it to oneself.
I think some people have some kind of need to put you into some kind of category, based on limited information. This is really an intrusion into your personal freedom, and an affront to your self. I think this is why these kinds of efforts upset us, so I don’t blame you Dave for having consternation over this.
Heh, I think I have the exact same tendency.