I am convinced that civil behavior in arguments is a moral necessity in most cases. I hold myself to this civility pledge that I published in February. I hope and expect that my readers will do their best to live up to its ideals as well. Here are my moderating procedures. Below find links to numerous posts on the ethics and practice of civility, many of which address common objections to my views. I have included at the bottom numerous links on better arguing from Chana Messinger’s blog The Merely Real.
I Am Not Against Emotions. I Am Against Insulting Epithets.
A Study Provides Evidence That Incivility Closes Minds
Research Suggests Verbal Abuse Hinders Brain Development
No, You Can’t Call People Sluts.
“But Aren’t Some People Actually Stupid?”
Elitism, Incivility, and the Word Stupid
You Don’t Kill Hateful Words’ Powers By Ignoring Them
Do Marginalized People Need To Be Insulting To Be Empowered
Avoiding The Abuser’s Dialectic (Or “My Nietzschean Lion Stage of Indignation”)
My Philosophy on What the Best Freethinking and Free Speech Entail
No Hate
What Kind of a Rationalist Wants to Verbally Abuse People into Submission Like an Authoritarian?
Intent Is Not Magic. But It Still Matters.
Why I Usually Don’t Blog About Interpersonal Conflicts
We Need Both Safe Spaces AND Philosophically Open Ones
Feminism, Civility, and Ron Lindsay’s Welcome To Women in Secularism
The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth–But With No Name-Calling
I Don’t Really Give A Fuck About Tone, Per Se
I Am A Rationalist, Not A Tribalist
How Atheist Reddit Doesn’t Get It
Don’t Call Religious Believers Stupid.
Don’t Demonize Religious People’s Motives, Focus On Their Objective Harms.
Can You Really Love Religious People If You Hate Their Religiosity?
On the Ethics of Teasing and Mocking People, in Groups, in Friendships, and in Debates and Satire
Moral Offense is Not Morally Neutral
The Ethics of Challenging Each Other’s Identities
Bullying or Debating? Religious Privilege or Freedom of Speech?
Lord Cthulhu Comes to Camels With Hammers: An Interview with PZ Myers
Research Suggests Verbal Abuse Hinders Brain Development
How I Friend, Unfriend, Block, and Enforce Civility on Facebook
Steelmanning by Chana Messinger
An Example of Steelmanning: The Issue of Gay Marriage and Polygamy by Chana Messinger
Being Charitable by Chana Messinger
When I Say Charity, I Really Mean Due Diligence by Chana Messinger
Charity is Totally Badass Activism by Chana Messinger
Acknowledging Counterarguments by Chana Messinger
When to Consider Reconsidering Your Position by Chana Messinger
Call Harm, not Foul: Being Careful About Language, Especially Calling People Racist/Sexist/Etc by Chana Messinger
Don’t Make it About Identity by Chana Messinger
All-or-nothing is All Wrong by Chana Messinger
The Privilege of Charity Part 1 by Chana Messinger