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0 pointss1artibartfast3y ago0 comments

I agree that it depends on the circumstances. I would argue that generic advice is generally applicable. It can't cover every single corner case specifically designed to evade it.

By that same metric, advocating a person wait for a less car dependent society with accessible public transport is terrible advice for the average fat and poor person.

No hypothetical advice can pass a "No True Scotsman" test.

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PuppyTailWags3y ago· 2 in thread

I'm not suggesting any solutions for all poor fat people. In fact what I'm advocating against is the idea that generic advice for all people of a very broad category is not as generally applicable and, in fact, runs into the rhetoric I said earlier that it both provides inapplicable and blaming advice. There are a great many, many problems with generic advice for a very broad set of society of millions of people.

If no hypothetical advice can pass a "No True Sctosman" test, stop giving hypothetical advice to the simplest example of a complex problem.

s1artibartfastOP3y ago

Im not suggesting blanket advice for all people either.

I think we might agree, but just be coming at it from different ends.

>stop giving hypothetical advice to the simplest example of a complex problem.

Surely we agree that a lot of fat people could benefit from eating less and exercising, correct? We could debate what proportion of people fall into the simplest example, but that is less interesting. What is interesting more interesting to me is when you think advice can be given and what kind:

Are you suggesting that nobody should ever give this advice to eat less and exercise more?

Are you suggesting that any advice that ascribes individual agency and control is inappropriate?

Are you suggesting that only discussing the complex socio-systemic causes is appropriate?

PuppyTailWags3y ago

I'm suggesting that you should give advice to specific people and specific circumstances over giving advice to hypothetically generic people and then casting blame on the many, many individuals for which the hypothetical doesn't apply.

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