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Re: Theos-World Re: "Blavatsky died with cigarette in mouth."

May 04, 2005 06:18 AM
by Bart Lidofsky


Cass Silva wrote:
You numbskull, without HPB there would have not been anything for AB
or CWL to write about.
First of all, I am aware of the story of the farmer, the mule, and the 2 by 4.

Given that, there is something in discussions for which I like a term used by Ed Abdill: "red flags." This is after the myth that bulls, when they see a red flag, become so angry that they ignore everything else, and become competely focused on destroying it.

Certain phrasings of terms or concepts can act as red flags to people; when they see them, the totally ignore the point being made, and only concentrate on the red flag, virtually guaranteeing that you will not get through to them (this is a reason why many American conservatives think that laws against burning the American flag in demonstrations are ridiculous; when a flag is burned, all anybody remembers is the flag being burned, and nobody remembers the reason for the demonstration, making it ultimately a self-defeating gesture).

In any case, calling someone a "numbskull", especially if they ARE a numbskull, will merely increase the numbness.

Bart




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