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elleng

(130,126 posts)
Tue Feb 16, 2021, 06:01 PM Feb 2021

When Debate Is Futile: Bertrand Russell's Remarkable Response to a Fascist's Provocation

Dear Sir Oswald,

Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism.

I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us.

I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.

Yours sincerely,
Bertrand Russell

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When Debate Is Futile: Bertrand Russell's Remarkable Response to a Fascist's Provocation (Original Post) elleng Feb 2021 OP
Yep! Karadeniz Feb 2021 #1
Well said. Marie Marie Feb 2021 #2
SO many 'great words'...... MyOwnPeace Feb 2021 #3
What a perfect tone did Bertrand Russell strike there? ZZenith Feb 2021 #4
A Thing of Beauty Irish_Dem Feb 2021 #5

MyOwnPeace

(16,887 posts)
3. SO many 'great words'......
Tue Feb 16, 2021, 06:23 PM
Feb 2021

just to say "F-U, fool!"

I wonder if 'Sir Oswald' even had an idea what he was being told? I could see IQ45 thinking he'd just been told he's the bestest at 'great words!'

ZZenith

(4,109 posts)
4. What a perfect tone did Bertrand Russell strike there?
Tue Feb 16, 2021, 06:26 PM
Feb 2021

Man, just copy and paste to all your MAGA relatives today and it will still fit perfectly.

They really are devoid of any human kindness. What good I thought might be left has been distorted into something grotesque that defies description.

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