Posted by alexandra_k on May 6, 2009, at 16:12:04
In reply to Re: Subject line change, posted by alexandra_k on May 6, 2009, at 16:00:30
> Would a friend of Socrates show friendship by trying to persuade Socrates that his process of questioning was in fact corrupting the young such that Socrates could change his behavior and stop philosophizing (which I'm sure we agree was something that he had control over)? That seems to be what Bob thinks a friend would do.
And that is the issue, really. That Bob thinks he has some direct line to a verdict from on high such that he (and only he) can be trusted with judgements of whether someone is in violation or not. His careful selection of people who do their best to do 'exactly would Bob would do were he here' (and their acceptance of his ultimate authority).
That Bob thinks that the way to be a friend to a person is to work hard to justify HIS judgements. To basically question ones friends - to basically accept Bob's judgement and come to view them as guilty. To work hard to get ones friends to change in order to tow Bob's line.
He isn't God.
He doesn't respect our point of view. He side-tracks the process by bringing up false dichotomies like 'my way or total anarchy and hate speech'.
He posted something before about the progression from Monarch to Oligarchy to Democracy (often by killing the monarch) to Anarchy to Monarchy again. I guess there was something to that that grabbed him... Instead of questioning 'does it have to be that way? What are the factors responsible for the progression such that we might alter things and have things progress differently' he seems determined to embrace this thing where we will... Kill him. I guess a friend might try and bring this kind of thing to his attention... The self destructive nature of it all. Is that good for the boards I wonder? Professional help is probably what is needed. Good luck to him finding a health professional who can adequately empathize lol.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:888433
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20090302/msgs/894497.html