it will actually be more helpful to me to dig down a bit about a "stupid" action of mine and see what's underneath. was it really lacking in intelligence? which kind of intelligence? was it careless? reckless? thoughtless? lacking judgment?
This makes a great deal of sense. And I like that it's a positive reason for avoiding certain language. (I'm all for not offending people by accident or thoughtlessness, but I like positive reasons.)
I like your examples about "Bush voters." Knee-jerk dismissal of people on one side of the political spectrum by people on the other side has distressed me for quite a while now. (Some people I feel very close to and who are no fools* are Bush voters. I can't just dismiss them. However, it's really difficult to get a dialog going.)
Re: stupid
it will actually be more helpful to me to dig down a bit about a "stupid" action of mine and see what's underneath. was it really lacking in intelligence? which kind of intelligence? was it careless? reckless? thoughtless? lacking judgment?
This makes a great deal of sense. And I like that it's a positive reason for avoiding certain language. (I'm all for not offending people by accident or thoughtlessness, but I like positive reasons.)
I like your examples about "Bush voters." Knee-jerk dismissal of people on one side of the political spectrum by people on the other side has distressed me for quite a while now. (Some people I feel very close to and who are no fools* are Bush voters. I can't just dismiss them. However, it's really difficult to get a dialog going.)
*Hm, what do we think of that word?