"To be fair..."

snowfoxofdeath

Every time I see those three words on my screen while reading OTC, I always imagine the person saying it in a high-pitched, reedy voice in a way that says, "I'm morally superior to you and therefore I consider this my victory before you even respond." I don't know why.

IanExMachina

I use to be fair, as a way to acknowledge criticism in my own stance and arguments.

Although to be fair if you've grown up hearing people acting like that you might associate that attitude with everyone who says it.

ColorPrinter

To be fair, you do have a point.

Noimporta

It's true that it sounds awfully similar to "Not to be X, but...", and it often precedes golden mean fallacies and the like. But it's nonetheless a useful phrase when constructing an argument, so you should probably try to remove that association.

GLORIOUSLeader

OTC

Well there you go.

Jokes aside, it can be used correctly if the one it's being utilized against is strawmanning the opposition or has misunderstood them.

LouieW

snowfoxofdeath,

 I think that sometimes that phrase is used in order to present an alternative viewpoint when those who support a certain side are being reduced to caricatures.

I agree that sometimes it can be rather difficult to read OTC posts without reading some kind of "I know better than you" type message into posts. Does anyone have a method for seeing things more evenly so that one can just focus more on the arguments themselves?

I think that it can often be difficult to not look arrogant when one is expressing one's opinion on so-called "important" issues so I do not think the tropers themselves deserve all of the blame. Still, I feel like there are often good and interesting points to find hidden in the middle of some otherwise harshly worded or seemingly closed-minded posts.

Gelzo

I sometimes use this phrase. I think half the time I'm doing it is to contradict a previous point I made.

Nyktos

I sometimes use this phrase. I think half the time I'm doing it is to contradict a previous point I made.

Central Avenue

I sometimes use this phrase. I think half the time I'm doing it is to contradict a previous point I made.

Stormtroper

I sometimes use this phrase. I think half the time I'm doing it is to contradict a previous point I made.

Central Avenue

I find it hilarious that every time something is quoted more than once, the formatting is slightly different for each person.

DYRE

I find it hilarious that every time something is quoted more than once, the formatting is slightly different for each person.

Gelzo

Nyktos

TheMightyAnonym

To be fair... I'm not a racist but... I'm not an idiot but...

SotiCoto

I do as Ian does.  Though usually "to be fair" means I'm about to go into a long exposition about my self-acknowledged personal flaws.