chriswhitewrites.com

Comment Threads

• paws4thot commented on E Ticket*
  Interesting - given the places where we differ now, and the places where we almost certainly differed then, we seem to have had much the same reactions to both Emma Peel and Tara King....
• Charlie Stross commented on E Ticket*
  The end point of that argument is that nobody has grounds to tell anyone what their experiences are, because we all experience things differently - even if the circumstances are identical. Bollocks. I do not have any grounds to tell you, Dirk Bruere, what it feels like to be Dirk Bruere. Now, I can listen to your account of what it's like to be you, and write a second-hand interpretation of that for other folks to read. BUT -- and this is an important "but" -- I may get things wrong. And if you want to issue corrections on...
• Stina Leicht commented on E Ticket*
  "Which is what that statement, "...an outsider does not have grounds to tell an insider what their experiences are", really means." Thanks for that, Charlie. It's exactly what I meant....
• dirk.bruere commented on E Ticket*
  True, but it means that describing the experiences of a group to which you do not belong is always going to be less accurate. Which is not to say that what is written is not good enough or even completely true. However, as the depth increases so will the accuracy fade. Like you say, nobody knows me as well as me, and similarly nobody in the out-group knows the in-group as well as an insider....
• Stina Leicht commented on E Ticket*
  'True, but it means that describing the experiences of a group to which you do not belong is always going to be less accurate." Is there a problem here? I believe there are several studies and theories covering observer bias in science, psychology, and an entire branch of physics, no less. It exists. This is why it will never matter how many years of study I put into the Irish situation I will always be outside of it. I'll never be able to speak in absolute authority for others. (More importantly, I don't want to.) It's a good thing for...