Susan Sontag on Censorship and the Three Steps to Refuting Any ArgumentThe main techniques for refuting an argument: * Find the inconsistency * Find the counter-example * Find a wider contextBrainPickingsBP_57eced04-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea00Maria PopovaAuthorSusan SontagAs a deep admirer of Susan Sontag, I’ve been ravenously devouring the newly released As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980 (public library) — an extraordinary look at the inner world of a genius, oscillating between conviction and insecurity in the most beautifully imperfect and human way possible. From detailed notes on her formidable media diet of literature and film to her intense love affairs and infatuations to her meditations on society’s values and vices, the hefty volume is a true cultural treasure._57ecee12-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea00To refute arguments_57ecee94-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea00ConsistencyExemplarsContextRefutation_57ecef0c-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea00InconsistencyFind the inconsistency_57ecef84-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea001Counter ExamplesFind the counter-example_57eceffc-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea002ContextFind a wider context_57ecf074-30cf-11eb-8309-d0d2f882ea003Instance: I am against censorship. In all forms. Not just for the right of masterpieces — high art — to be scandalous. But what about pornography (commercial)? Find the wider context: notion of voluptuousness à la Bataille? But what about children? Not even for them? Horror comics, etc. Why forbid them comics when they can read worse things in the newspapers any day. Napalm bombing in Vietnam, etc. A just/ discriminating censorship is impossible.1965-09-162020-11-27https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/06/26/susan-sontag-on-censorship/OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net