~~ i stand corrected.

remember how i had that whole ranty-rant about homophobia-in-slash a few days ago? i was pretty sure i wasn't being silly and my points were valid. i read lots of other people's entries and while i saw they had good points, none of them really -swayed- me.

i'd just like to state (for my own record) that i stand behind penelope_z's post 100%. it's just one of those times i'm happy that i wasn't thinking straight, because the pleasure of suddenly having things become clear is always immense for me. when it was using definitional arguments-- ie, what hatred is, what slash is, what the statement "i hate slash" entails, it all did absolutely nothing for me. semantics never really swayed me.

but this-- this is an example of an argument that works for me. philosophically grounded, emotionally resonant, touching on things i can identify with both positively and negatively. not so much driving home one point (ie, saying this means that), but rather setting up a whole situation in which the point becomes a natural conclusion based on several concurrent elements that work together.

( a little bit of exposition, here... )

anyway. i don't exactly -retract- everything i'd said categorically (since that'd go against my whole shtick, here), but i just wanted to squee, because reading something that makes that much sense to me makes me happy. it's not that i've been converted, but that i've been shown by example that this is what i didn't know i've thought all along. and that's the ideal argument, as far as i'm concerned. something that unfolds a subject for you, something that clarifies and explains rather than arguing and defending and basically using rhetoric to make a point from a position of authority. the thing that i love about penelope's essay is that it doesn't assume a position of authority, which i feel is a breath of fresh air.

i seriously hope i can one day write essays that well, really ^.^