Joking vs mockery, respect or disrespect?

[thesummerqueen]

I'm not claiming it's a major or minor point, I'm just trying to parse out exactly what you think we're "arguing" about. Especially this "future self" vs "present self" stuff.


I'm going to lay out my side as simply and as clearly as possible:

Someone holds a belief. I think it's ugly. I mock the belief because I think it's ugly. What is important is whether or not I can back up that mocking with evidence and clear, communicated opinion on why it's ugly.

I don't initially mock the person. After all, that person could change. I've changed over the years. Sometimes due to mocking making me reflect on what I believed.

Sometimes I mock people in a more personal fashion. This is because they have ceased discussion or argument and resorted to being personally ugly, and then I must tell them how I am perceiving them to be acting. If this is not the way they think they are coming across, we can discuss that as well. What people don't seem to realize is that everything is up for discussion, and the only way to reach clear communication is to keep discussing it.