I know this sounds pretentious (which is quite ironic), but this is something I’ve noticed about the internet. You never read about what someone does, only what they say. You hear politicians claim that they’ll fix the economy, or celebrities make speeches about what they feel like, or what “message” a fictional movie has being discussed over and over, but none of that matters, because it’s all saying and no doing!
If you have actions and words, then you should judge them based on actions because that is what they did and not what they said. The actions are more important than the words. If they promote peace and love, but spend their evenings violently attacking children, then their actions speak louder than words.
If all you have is words, then you work with what you have. At that point you are responding more to the message they are expressing, not necessarily to them as an individual.
OpenStars@discuss.online 2 months ago
Words are one type of action - like if someone refuses to say something, that’s a choice right there. e.g., I’ll say it: “Nazis murdering people is bad”, but there are some who won’t say those words… and that’s really saying something (managing to convey a message of a whole other sort).
Words are cheaper than most other types of actions though. Yet also they can amass in bulk, and there are ways to follow through e.g. if someone says they fixed something in a piece of code, and provide a GitHub link, you can verify that the words match the deeds.
JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Define bad.
OpenStars@discuss.online 2 months ago
From your question, I can infer that you - even if only for the sake of argument - are taking the position that it is subjective? In which case, feel free to do so - but don’t be surprised if not everyone picks the same definition.
There is definitely room for nuance, but I tried to pick an example that was fairly clear & unambiguous according to most people’s understanding of that term.