I have been thinking a lot about framing, in response to this thread.
I have mostly concluded that I actively dislike doing it and so haven't finished most of those thoughts. ^_^
But reading Greg London's persistent request to Xopher for underlying values, it occured to me that I do have one to offer. It doesn't trump much, but it's there.
People are good. You should assume people are good. Object to abortion if you want, but you don't get to start your argument by assuming the women who do it are sinful degenerates. Object to gay marriage if you want, but remember that gay people are good. You don't get to call the rich evil, the elite evil, even the people in jail for horrible things evil.
People who point out that everyone's sinful and bad are doing so 'cause they're proud, arrogant, vain, envious, wrathful, and greedy. So I'm pro-good. I think we should assume everyone is good and has value.
. . . I don't think it's a very useful frame. But it's a positive value underlying an awful lot of the ideals that Puritans do not hold.
So.
Avram, Rebecca, I'd never call that brother dumb, and I have infinite faith that he'd still like me better than he'd like TJIC, no matter what I'd said about him.
Oops. *^_^*
I have become a surprisingly relevant object lesson in the difficulties of spotting the introduction of hidden assumptions! My apologies.
TJIC:
Either every opinion is equally legitimate, or ... well, not.
If they're not, then I suspect Ms. Nielsen-Hayden believes her brother's opinion was not equally legitimate in this case---for reasons of common sense backed up with her available experience, I would guess.
If they are, then it's still perfectly legitimate to suggest that her brother wasn't worth talking to on this, and, in fact, that he is made entirely of pineapples and has a choir of dancing angels on his head.
Not that I think she is automatically right! Just, sometimes it's *okay* to think that people who disagree with you are fundamentally mistaken, even if you should leave room for those random discoveries that one is wrong. ^_^
Rebecca
ajay - clearly, I have only scratched the surface of possible giant heretic horror movies. There's also a lot of room for romantic comedies and even touching feel-good stories, e.g., where a giant apolinarianist befriends a human child, but then discovers that the Logos wants to hollow the kid out to serve as its vessel. In the end, it turns out it was all a test, like that thing with Abraham. Everyone laughs and laughs.
Night of the Antinomian was, as a historical note, partly inspired by Making Light---I had encountered the concept before, in a family member's critique of her Calvinist mother, but I think it was the recent post Strict Orthodoxy here that gave me the term and started me thinking about it.
Also, hi! I've been reading since February or so, thanks to a heads-up from Catie Murphy. ^_^
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