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A Very British Witchcraft
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tjj
tjj
3606 posts

Re: A Very British Witchcraft
Aug 27, 2013, 20:36
thesweetcheat wrote:
tjj wrote:
... to discourage 'alternative' view points make this forum a poorer place (in my opinion for what it's worth).


I quite agree with this, although as you would probably expect I also agree with Mustard and Nigel on the "opinion as fact" aspect as well.

As as been said before, where the wheels come off in these sorts of threads is usually when someone expects their opinion to be taken as fact, and any attempt to challenge or question (or sometimes even put forward an alternative) is met with defensive affront, which can quickly descend into name-calling and in some cases has led to extremely offensive comments, sexism, racism, homophobia, ageism, sectarian abuse, you name it, we've had it. That's not in any way aimed at AC, by the way.

I'm not sure that this argument is ever likely to resolve itself, but I do think it could easily be avoided by people accepting that their viewpoint (whether it's 'alternative' or deeply conservative) is just that - an opinion. Then everyone can discuss and debate without fear of offence. Just my opinion, obviously!


The irony of this tsc, is that there was no argument - I had made the observation that Ronald Hutton had missed the opportunity to make any reference to the history of witchcraft/witch trials in the UK. Astralcat came on and made a perfectly polite response saying there probably hadn't been time for him to do this within the context of the programme. I agreed with this.
Subsequently however, his post was given the 'analytical' treatment and his personal experiences, which he hadn't enlarged upon, were yet again claimed to be stating 'belief' and/or 'personal experience' as fact. As Roy said earlier if someone experiences something then it is true for them but not necessarily anyone else. Astral Cat posts over on the 'Village Pump' (under a different name I think) where he is respected and liked. I doubt he'll be back here which is a shame because I like him - even if he is a bit of a hippy.
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