I agree with you that hypotheticals are legitimate. However, your particular use of the hypothetical was so foreshortened that it undercut its own legitimacy. I suspect that's what Mitch picked up on, though you're right that the form is entirely OK.  

Actually, a thought experiment is a special kind of hypothetical. It involves counter-factuals, such as: if there were a parallel universe in which water were not H-2-O but in every other way resembled water..." You actually said,  "...like a thought experiment..." so no error, I'm not objecting. Just clarifying that it wasn't a thought experiment, but a hypothetical.

The problem with your hypothetical was that it was indefinite, and intimated errors or a slackness in my thinking which you didn't give any grounds for. It was indefinite in saying that the Spanish might have had, at any time in the country's past, a predominately racist attitude. Also, it intimated that Spain had had such an attitude toward China. Now, I very much doubt there is a country that hasn't had, at some time or other, predominantly racist views towards some group!! What your hypothetical needed to suggest is that Spain is so afflicted, and in the recent past. Also, that this racism is specifically toward China.  

I don't know the cultural history of Spain. All of that may be true. If so, you really ought to have presented those facts as facts, not as a hypothetical.  

So I'm writing in defense of your form of arguing--the hypothetical (actually, for myself, I've never met a thought experiment I could respect,) but not with any support for your point about racism. You seem to be generalizing from your own naivete about racism, and its disillusionment when you went to Argentina, to me as the writer of that post. That's a subjective impulse I think you would want to rid yourself of. 

--Mindy 

A "thought experiment" wasn't what you were doing at all. "Assume for a minute" is a qualifier to avoid it looking like you're expressing your opinion, when in actual fact you're doing just that. It's a little like "it could be argued that," or "some people say."

An evasion? Really? Oh, you mean like when I am designing software and I say, "Let's assume for a minute that traffic suddenly spikes" and then we think through the ramifications. That's an evasion?
 
What I find strange is that even as I try to clean up the expression of my "Thought Experiment" you seem to think there's some kind of malice on my part.

That you have come to the conclusion that I believe the Spanish are racists is stupefying and disappointing.

Say what you mean, mean what you say. Read that anywhere?

A "thought experiment" wasn't what you were doing at all. "Assume for a minute" is a qualifier to avoid it looking like you're expressing your opinion, when in actual fact you're doing just that. It's a little like "it could be argued that," or "some people say."

I read your post in context you see. You don't want me to drop context do you?

So a few Spanish people posed for photographs and made a joke.

So what? It was designed to be amusing, and many do find it amusing.

Are there really so many on Solo who are sooooooo anally retentive they cannot laugh at a joke?

Are there really so many people who prefer to engage in a form of totalitarianism..("Thou shalt not make jokes about Chinamen, or Irishmen, or cripples or anyone else")..than to simply smile at the highlighting of a stereotype?

It is a very sad state of affairs if this is so...

On election day...tick the LIBERTARIANZ box...

It comes down to, "I don't think so?"

You just assume I underestimate racism in the world at large (by the way, I grew up in the South, and once saw a cross burned.) You admit the players don't seem to intend racism, etc. Why, then do you think it is indeed a racist photo??

And if it isn't, the fuss made over it is indeed PC over-reaction. No?

--Mindy 

"As a piece of personal history, your move to Argentina has some interest, but as a material point about racism versus censorial political correctness, it's a bit spare...What DID you find in Argentina?"

The point was that I don't think this is a PC issue. You framed it as such and I happen to disagree with your analysis. The question of racism -- as mild as it may be -- is a legitimate, IMO.

I mentioned Argentina to point out that sometimes folks in the US can be a little naive with regard to the variety and amount of racial and nation animosity in the rest of the world. Your post did not account for that. You simply chalked the whole brouhaha up to a bunch of whiny PC'ers.

"If any of the people involved in making it were actually expressing racial bias, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot, big-time!"

Well, it wouldn't be the first time but perhaps they are simply oblivious of the impression this ad leaves and what it is signalling.

I think intelligent people can disagree on whether or not the ad was racist but blaming the PC'ers misses the mark. 

Hey, Mitch.

Did you notice that I said "Assume for a minute that the Spanish have a history of racist beliefs." You know, like a thought experiment. 

Racism is RAMPANT in Latino culture.

Scott DeSalvo

www.desalvolaw.com
FREE Injury Report and CD Reveal the Secrets You Need to Know to Protect Your RIGHTS!

As a piece of personal history, your move to Argentina has some interest, but as a material point about racism versus censorial political correctness, it's a bit spare...What DID you find in Argentina? How does it relate to the Spanish basketball team? (You didn't have to leave the U.S. to encounter actual racial prejudice...)

Have you looked at the context of this ad? They are heading to China. Is that when they'd be publishing their scorn for all people and things Chinese? They have wholesome smiles, not sneers on their faces. The team, you can be sure, did not stage the picture, an ad agency did. After doing marketing research, and with people who spend their lives keeping up with attitudes and preferences of various groups. If any of the people involved in making it were actually expressing racial bias, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot, big-time!

--Mindy

"...the Spanish have a history of racist beliefs"?

Means "the Spanish" are racist, does it? I pity those poor non-racist Spanish people, they obviously have no chance in your eyes.

I think this has very little to do with PC and everything to do with the fact that racism and ethnic insensitivies are alive and well in the world. As a US citizen I had no real understanding of this until I moved to Argentina.

Assume for a minute that the Spanish have a history of racist beliefs. Would you feel the same way about this photo? What would that photo be signaling and to whom?

Seems to me that you are dropping some of the context here. 

by me.

That’s more like it! Can’t fault the main thrust, nice to hear from you in this vein.

What about the following? Would I be correct to suggest two minor points, (Not that your’s is not understood)?;

A defender, as such, believes he has several desirable traits.

Intellectually, their battle is to redefine rights to include one's livelihood, medical treatment, retirement benefits, disability income, etc.

Elijah Lineberry proclaims: you used the word 'Spanish', which, along with variations such as 'Spaniard' are racist terms according to everyone on Solopassion.com...

Um, well, no. No one has written that Spanish or Spaniard are racist terms. No one at all. What was pointed out to you was that Spaniard means Spanish citizen. It's a case of stupid use, not racist use, dumkopf.

It's like calling you an Israeli instead of noting you are a "friendly, at times naughty, gay, Jewish chap living in New Zealand."

You are not an Israeli. The Hispanics or Latinos in South Los Angeles are not citizens of Spain. A question of accuracy.

Git.

WSS

Clearly Wgtn Libz got on to the case, and the Spanish basketball team will undergo sensitivity training.

Careful, Mindy....you used the word 'Spanish', which, along with variations such as 'Spaniard' are racist terms according to everyone on Solopassion.com... 

On election day...tick the LIBERTARIANZ box...