Important Philosophical Questions + POLLS

And yet, a white horse may or may not be a horse …

What situation? I interpreted your poll was asking if I would do such a thing when I was at a random location in the world and no other context. My answer is no. I wouldn’t take the chance of violating some local law or social rule for no reason. And why would I even touch someone I don’t know?

Were you instead asking how I would react seeing someone else doing it at a random location in the world and no other context?

In that case I’d probaly feel neutral, unless it’s obvious that the child is upset about it and there is no caretaker nearby. That would be a strange situation. Still, I would be hesitant to interfere, especially when I don’t speak the local language and there are locals present who’d understand better what’s happening.

Perhaps the best way to put it is to imagine if someone does that to your kid

This may simply be a matter of different interpretations of the poll question, but I see a large difference between “how would you feel if someone did that to (some specific person)” and “is it universally impermissible to do that (everywhere and always)”. There are cultures that have practices that are cruel or destructive or dishonorable, that are “not okay” even if they are (or were) normal somewhere, but patting strangers’ kids on the head isn’t even close to being in that category. I’m very comfortable saying that I don’t want any strangers patting my kids on the head (because around here that’s unheard of, so anyone doing it is a major weirdo) even though I have no problem with communities where it’s normal.

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The key detail I see people overlooking.

Not your body; not your choice.

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Young children are not like adults, touching them (lightly, without bad intentions) doesn’t annoy them.

Like in this video of 7 year-old Vanessa Paradis:

The presenter held her hand, and later touched her shoulder. No one was shocked.

My son is 23yo, but when it would have happened like 15 years ago, it would depend on the context. In many cases I might not even have registered it, while in other cases I might feel they’re being rude.

I still remember a situation 20 years ago when we were in the main square in Prague, with our little boy sitting in his stroller, when an older Chinese woman (a tourist like us) was taking pictures of our son fairly close-up without asking for permission. That seemed quite rude to us, but we let it pass. We assumed she couldn’t speak English, and after all he did look very cute.

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My brother and me were patted on the head by strangers during vacation in another country as children because of our very blonde hair in summer (and also on other occasions). I don’t really remember, but I asked my mom and she confirmed that we were annoyed.

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Different situation, IMO: they already were acquainted.

Yes, I wasn’t responding to the question in the poll, just pointing out a difference between adults and young children. Do that to an adult woman you are just acquainted with, there are much higher chances that she’ll feel annoyed.

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This happened to me more than just a few times when I was a kid, and it annoyed me to no end. I remember absolute strangers on the street just mussing my hair as I walked by. And I am still offended at the gall of those people, all these decades later.

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As difficult as it may be to imagine, the following will eventually come to pass: You read the news, but Donald J Trump is not mentioned in the first article. He is not mentioned in the second article, in fact you read all the news and realize that none of the articles mention Donald J Trump.

What’s your best guess for when that day will come?

  • 0 to 4.99 years
  • 5 to 9.99 years
  • 10 to 49.99 years
  • 50 to 100 years
  • Not in my lifetime
0 voters

I am aware there may be some overlap in the options.

This happened to me just last week, as I was perusing a newspaper from December 1963.

However many of the articles did mention the new president at that moment.

Reading the “news” is a really bad way to gain understanding of what’s going on in this world.

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I voted “not in my lifetime”, in order to get all the options from 0 to 49.99 years. :slight_smile:

Think how many times Reagan was mentioned up until 2015. This case is going to be similar since Trump is another crucial turning point for one of the major parties.

In fact, if the demographics continue as they are, they might be the only major party left after the 2030 census, so we are probably going to be hearing a lot about this era for a looooong long time, especially if the Republicans eventually fracture to internal power struggles after winning a couple of times (that’s what usually happens) and you will have all the potential candidates saying that they are the “new Trump” or “Trump 2.0” or want to “Make America Great Again, once again”. :sweat_smile:

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I don’t think Reagan was mentioned every day in the News.

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No, because he was not “news”, but he was still getting mentioned a decade after his death and almost three decades after his presidency ended, for various reasons, be it his part in ending the Cold War or big array of decisions and things that happened during his presidency and affect us still (mainly some economic and social decisions), along with the fact that his idea(l)s where still held by a lot.

Reaganism and Reagonomics are terms that exist for that reason.
Similarly we have Trumpism and Trumponomics (America First, Tariffs and so forth).

So, it won’t be “news” in the strict definition of the word, but “olds” since it will part of “opinion pieces” or be mentioned by politicians and pundits, a lot.

Therefore “0 to 49.99 years” is the most reasonable answer and since that choice was not up there, I just placed a safe bet that I won’t reach 90+ years old.

Perhaps we interpreted the question differently. My interpretation was : when will be the first time that Trump won’t be in newspaper headlines every day. My guess is : some time during the term 2032-2036. I’m not saying that he won’t be mentioned on a regular basis.

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Oh, I see what you mean now.

The poll says: " He is not mentioned in the second article, in fact you read all the news and realize that none of the articles mention Donald J Trump."

So, I took it that it means that noone really ever mentions Trump again in a news segment discussion or an opinion piece, overall (not just the main headlines or what was once the first pages of a newpaper), other than totally historical reasons and in passing (e.g. a statement like “This happened during X president’s term” and not much more).

In that case, I’d say it depends on how long he will be alive and be able to be involved in politics. He is 80 now, his term ends in 2029, so let’s say 4-5 more years after that? In which case I will totally agree that “2032-2036” seems the most likely in that regard.

It will also depend on whether Barron Trump will go into politics as well. If he does, you can expect a lot of articles and opinion pieces with various comparisons, introspectives and whatnot, for a much more extended time.