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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023

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As I said, being in the wrong is not a zero sum game. They can be completely wrong in their actions, and she can be wrong in hers. I certainly am not saying that she was, because (as you, @Amadan and I all agree) they are likely to be lying just to save face. All I'm saying is that, if they are telling the truth, the nurse can be wrong without absolving them one bit.

I truly don’t understand your charity to them.

I'm not trying to defend them, and I don't understand why you act like I am. I'm simply pushing back on the idea that to say the nurse acted poorly means that the kids are absolved for their actions.

  • -11

How is paying to rent a bike that's available wrong? Someone wanting to keep it, but who didn't remnt it because they have to return it before getting a second free use, needs to allow other free and paying renters to do so.

If you want to check out a library book again, it needs to go through the return process so that you can't just keep it indefinitely when others wish to check it out.

How is paying to rent a bike that's available wrong?

Except that isn't what happened according to the teens. According to them, what she did was to scan a bike that one of them was sitting on and had said he was going to still use. This is roughly equivalent to if you find someone at the library who has a book on the desk in front of them, who says "sorry but I'm going to check this book out still", and you snatch it off the desk and check it out yourself. That isn't breaking any laws or anything but would be kind of a dick move.

I'm not saying that this nurse is the worst person in the world, or that she should be fired, or anything like that. I am just saying that as the kids tell it, she was kind of rude to them. That's all.

  • -15

She was allegedly “rude” to people who were scamming Citi Bikes. It’s only rude once you accept the anti-social activity by the teens was appropriate.

It’s only rude once you accept the anti-social activity by the teens was appropriate.

No, that is not true. I can point out that both are wrong, there's no need for me to choose one side to be in the right. As I keep saying, many people in this thread need to learn that being in the wrong is not zero-sum.

  • -19

Even accepting your premise. She would be a -.000000001 and they would be a -10

Yes, and? I never said that the magnitude of the offense wasn't different (though the level of difference you're trying to portray is ridiculous, it's not that out of whack). Through this entire thread I've agreed that the kids are more in the wrong, even if their story is true. I just refuse to accept the bad premise that because they're more in the wrong, means that nobody else can be in the wrong.

  • -12

Except when the wrong is the size of the wrong Anti_dan posits it is so de minimis as to be ignored. Trying to say “both sides are wrong” is necessarily conveying a sense that both sides are roughly equal. But if you think the one side is less than 1% wrong taking a “both sides” approach is conveying an incorrect message even if you think it is technically correct.