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Lost
Picture of kkina
posted
This Thread inspired one of my pet peeves. Why must people interpret questions as assertions on the part of the asker? Can't you just ask a question?

Here's what I mean (over-simplified): suppose I ask a simple question, "Does 2 + 2 = 4?" Immediately people respond with, "You think it doesn't?" or "Well, what do you think it adds up to?" or even, "What compels you to rewrite the rules of mathematics?"

The actual answer to the question is, "Yes". At no point did I assert there was a different answer. I asked a question, a basic technique when one is in search of information they do not have. How can we rail at the rising tide of ignorance in society when basic information-seekers are treated this way? (I won't mention the last time I saw something like this happen.)



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"First, Eyes."
 
Posts: 16266 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: December 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I agree with you.

But I think we see this more and more because asking "questions" that are really assertions has become the hallmark of "journalists" today. It has slowly been creeping in.

The truth is that often questions can be taken in different ways depending on the tone of the questioner. If I ask my wife "Is that what you're wearing tonight" I darn sure better have the correct tone or there will be trouble.

When questions are written and not spoken (as on here) it can sometimes be hard to understand the questioner's motivations and easy to jump to the conclusion that the questioner is not really asking but instead asserting.
 
Posts: 1168 | Registered: July 06, 2016Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lost
Picture of kkina
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Yes, I see your point and it's a good one. Even I see that often a question hides a deeper agenda. But to paraphrase Freud, "Sometimes a question is just a question."



ACCU-STRUT FOR MINI-14
"First, Eyes."
 
Posts: 16266 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: December 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
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quote:
Originally posted by kkina:
Yes, I see your point and it's a good one. Even I see that often a question hides a deeper agenda. But to paraphrase Freud, "Sometimes a question is just a question."
Now, just exactly what did you mean by that? Razz



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Posts: 30545 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A Grateful American
Picture of sigmonkey
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It has become appearant over time that people who are insecure, passive aggresive and or having an agenda will use question as assertion as their primary means of their end.

And no one likes being set up and "punked", so the "evolution" of question/answer has become this game.

Like it or not, it has become prevelent.

Has it not?




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
 
Posts: 43810 | Location: ...... I am thrice divorced, and I live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!!! (in Arkansas) | Registered: December 20, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His Royal Hiney
Picture of Rey HRH
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by kkina:

Here's what I mean (over-simplified): suppose I ask a simple question, "Does 2 + 2 = 4?" Immediately people respond with, "You think it doesn't?" or "Well, what do you think it adds up to?" or even, "What compels you to rewrite the rules of mathematics?"



Have you never come across a rhetorical question before??? (wait, don't answer. That was a rhetorical question.) Big Grin



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
 
Posts: 19583 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Drill Here, Drill Now
Picture of tatortodd
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A couple times in my career, I've had the misfortune of working with one particularly vile, toxic coworker. This coworker's nickname is machine gun because they will walk into your office, machine gun off 10 straight questions w/o interruption, and will stand there with pen and paper waiting to write down your answer to 10 questions. They have no idea if they asked a question that can be answered immediately or takes hours/days of research.

On the flip side, if you ask them a simple question with no agenda during a meeting they'll track you down after the meeting and blow up. They have no idea what is going on and it's a defense mechanism as they live in fear that more people will learn they have 6 months of experience 30 times instead of 15 years of experience. Whenever someone who knows what they're doing asks this vile creature a question they assume it's an assertion they don't know what they're doing.



Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.
 
Posts: 23101 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Mr. Peteroniman
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quote:
Has it not?


4


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All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed.
For after all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog.”
― Charles M. Schulz
 
Posts: 1996 | Location: Florida Panhandle | Registered: June 25, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Festina Lente
Picture of feersum dreadnaught
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Peteroniman:
quote:
Has it not?


4


wrong! answer is 46. wait, nope, right answer to different question.



NRA Life Member - "Fear God and Dreadnaught"
 
Posts: 8295 | Location: in the red zone of the blue state, CT | Registered: October 15, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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