Let me out myself as a gray-ist. Reality is rarely digital, but analog. It presents a spectrum of choices to us.
Like you, I'm sicken by the wave of rigid-thinking bullies who posit that listening to the opposition is a form of date-rape. You can find folks of this mindset on both sides of the political aisle.
I also agree that it is often a good idea to do nothing immediately, but accumulate additional information about a situation before choosing a course of action.
However, I wouldn't like to exalt passivity as an unalloyed virtue. Forebarance and thinking in broader contexts are better paths to Eudamonia.
It isn't OK to let yourself be abused. It isn't OK to let bullies have their way all the time. Your response needn't be physical reprisal, of course, but it should be a clear. Not every opponent is enlightened enough to see a passive response as morally superior.
Sadly, a good deal of our savage animal ways presist in the modern human mind. On a bad day, I fear that civilization is a maladaptive mutation.
I agree with your supposition that "well-meaning" is descriptively used to connote failure or incompetence, as in:
"America's Global War on Terror is a well-meaning foreign policy that has only increased global terrorism."
"Paul Tsongas's campaign platform of raising taxes to pay off profligate government debt was seen as well-meaning, but fundamentally unappealing to voters."
Boo to binary choices!
Like you, I'm sicken by the wave of rigid-thinking bullies who posit that listening to the opposition is a form of date-rape. You can find folks of this mindset on both sides of the political aisle.
I also agree that it is often a good idea to do nothing immediately, but accumulate additional information about a situation before choosing a course of action.
However, I wouldn't like to exalt passivity as an unalloyed virtue. Forebarance and thinking in broader contexts are better paths to Eudamonia.
It isn't OK to let yourself be abused. It isn't OK to let bullies have their way all the time. Your response needn't be physical reprisal, of course, but it should be a clear. Not every opponent is enlightened enough to see a passive response as morally superior.
Sadly, a good deal of our savage animal ways presist in the modern human mind. On a bad day, I fear that civilization is a maladaptive mutation.
I agree with your supposition that "well-meaning" is descriptively used to connote failure or incompetence, as in:
"America's Global War on Terror is a well-meaning foreign policy that has only increased global terrorism."
"Paul Tsongas's campaign platform of raising taxes to pay off profligate government debt was seen as well-meaning, but fundamentally unappealing to voters."
Keep on, keepin' on.