Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra
 
Re: And exactly how would I know it was rhetorical? by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 07/08/2014, 12:53am PDT
This is a healing moment for you wrote:

Commander Tansin A. Darcos wrote:

Explain precisely how a normal person would know that the statement was rhetorical.
You're finally asking the right questions. 52 is a good age to begin learning how normal people operate.

"I can't imagine anyone spending more than five minutes with Call of Duty or Gears of War and enjoying it." It's obvious to normal people that there must be at least one hypothetical person that would enjoy video games that sell millions of copies.

Since I don't buy or play those games I have no idea how many copies they sell. A huge amount of money was lost making the movie "Heaven's Gate," so much so that it bankrupted the studio. People didn't go to see it in droves, but since some people did go to see it, I can guess there is probably someone who liked it or at least thought it was worth making even if 99.99999% of those who saw it bad mouthed the movie.

Since the claim doesn't make sense as a literal statement,

Wrong. It's a statement of opinion. It does not have to make sense. It can be pure hyperbole. There are people who claim that JFK was killed by a conspiracy, despite no evidence. That doesn't make any sense, but several million people believe it to be so.
a normal person understands that there must be some OTHER context in which this statement makes sense. They immediately understand that it is exaggeration to make a rhetorical point. (Please note that for us normal people this understanding is achieved in a few milliseconds, we don't actually have to struggle to figure out what is rhetorical).

You still haven't shown where it was identifiably rhetorical, since it could simply have been hyperbole. There are people who claim that no adult should put ketchup on a hot dog. Which is, of course, a stupid thing to say because millions of adults do put ketchup on hot dogs. The person making the statement is not being rhetorical, they actually believe their opinion that adults should not put ketchup on a hot dog.

Compare and contrast with your own reaction, you asperger's fuck. Where's our cooking videos?
New rule: insulting me by using that offensive word locks out any production or release of cooking videos for a full month. And as it continues the penalty goes up. There will be no release at all during July. Would you like to try for all of 2014?

Or you could apologize. Because you can't have it both ways. If I have mental problems, I have no business wasting time doing cooking videos when it is important I get psychiatric attention or otherwise take care of my problem. But if I don't have mental problems then I can and would have the time to try doing something like that.

But you should not presume to expect me to go through the agonizing effort and trouble to produce a cooking video when the people who want to see it propose to tell me I have mental problems. Spitting in my face (rhetorically) is no way to get me to like you or want to take the effort to entertain you.
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Here are my secret confessions. by Anonymous 06/20/2014, 11:34am PDT NEW
    These confessions are WEAK. NT by Ian Bell 06/20/2014, 1:25pm PDT NEW
    It's a good thing you posted anonymously or we'd all have to think less of you. by Jerry Whorebach 06/20/2014, 1:27pm PDT NEW
        What is Operation Wolf? not trolling, just not heard of it NT by Anonymous 06/20/2014, 1:39pm PDT NEW
            Only the sweetest machine that five year old me had ever seen :( by Jerry Whorebach 06/20/2014, 2:12pm PDT NEW
                They take zero skill and you need to go back to Baby's First FPS NT by Mysterio 06/20/2014, 2:59pm PDT NEW
                    You're not fooling anybody, Dennis "Thresh" Fong. by Jerry Whorebach 06/20/2014, 5:14pm PDT NEW
                Saw one around here for $300 on Craigslist by Worm 06/20/2014, 4:14pm PDT NEW
                    Looks like a nightmare to maintain though >:( NT by The Happiness Engine 06/20/2014, 5:16pm PDT NEW
                    If I put that cab in my apartment I would have to sleep in it (and not just NT by because I would love it so much). 06/20/2014, 5:17pm PDT NEW
                Beast Busters was the best Operation Wolf clone NT by FACT! 06/21/2014, 3:18pm PDT NEW
        Operation Wolf was pretty fun in the arcade by jeep 06/22/2014, 11:05am PDT NEW
            Yeah, action games always sucked on PC. Shitty controllers was maybe issue #1. by Jerry Whorebach 06/22/2014, 2:18pm PDT NEW
    You've not brave enough to trash Call of Duty behind a regular screen name? NT by That's WORLD PRIDE level faggotness 06/21/2014, 12:16am PDT NEW
        No, that's pride fucking with you NT by Marcellis Wallace 06/21/2014, 2:41pm PDT NEW
            Thanks, TDARCOS. NT by Go fuck yourself 06/22/2014, 11:46am PDT NEW
                You first and post it on YouTube or YouPorn so we can confirm you did Or shut up NT by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 06/29/2014, 5:04pm PDT NEW
    Re: Here are my secret confessions. by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 06/27/2014, 1:52pm PDT NEW
        "I interpret rhetorical statements literally." NT by Asperger's motherfucker 06/27/2014, 4:27pm PDT NEW
            And exactly how would I know it was rhetorical? by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 06/29/2014, 5:03pm PDT NEW
                Re: And exactly how would I know it was rhetorical? by This is a healing moment for you 06/30/2014, 7:42am PDT NEW
                    Re: And exactly how would I know it was rhetorical? by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 07/08/2014, 12:53am PDT NEW
                        Yeah, come on, guys. by Moonrogue 07/08/2014, 5:40am PDT NEW
                        Re: And exactly how would I know it was rhetorical? by Eurotrash 07/08/2014, 2:05pm PDT NEW
                        Hyperbole is a rhetorical device. You draw a meaningless distinction. by go fuck yourself 07/08/2014, 2:55pm PDT NEW
                            Re: Hyperbole is a rhetorical device. You draw a meaningless distinction. by Eurotrash 07/08/2014, 4:16pm PDT NEW
                                Re: Hyperbole is a rhetorical device. You draw a meaningless distinction. by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 07/08/2014, 4:39pm PDT NEW
                                    See, I knew he was just a master troll! He opened that sarcasm tag on Usenet NT by like 19 years ago!! 07/08/2014, 4:49pm PDT NEW
    What's wrong with Gears of War 1? by Worm 06/29/2014, 4:34pm PDT NEW
        Re: What's wrong with Gears of War 1? (Do you really want to know?) by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 06/29/2014, 5:10pm PDT NEW
            thanks NT by Worm 06/29/2014, 5:17pm PDT NEW
            Shut the fuck up you fat aspie piece of shit NT by Literally a turd in a wheelchair 06/30/2014, 7:12am PDT NEW
            You poor victim, you. We're all a bunch of meanies here. by Eurotrash 06/30/2014, 8:28am PDT NEW
            Are you proposing that we administer some sort of test? NT by Entropy Rogers Stew 07/08/2014, 5:36pm PDT NEW
        Re: What's wrong with Gears of War 1? by Vested Id 06/29/2014, 8:41pm PDT NEW
            I've actually meant to go back and play Halo by Worm 06/30/2014, 3:45am PDT NEW
                Halo would've been twice as good if it were half as long. NT by Thirty Helens Agree 06/30/2014, 6:28pm PDT NEW
                    I don't know half of HALO as well as I would like, and I like less than half of NT by HALO half as well as it deserves! 07/02/2014, 8:24am PDT NEW
            I only played the first Halo and the first Gears. They were okay, I guess. by Jerry Whorebach 06/30/2014, 7:32pm PDT NEW
 
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