Most hated speech

"I'll never understand people," shouted a friend as he walked in.

You know, in the sort of company I had been in, had it been I who said it, you could expect a chorus of "At last! He realizes it!" and such other statements complimenting my acumen. Others, though, get away without getting the sarcasm and, even, get sympathy. I'll never understand...oh, forget it.

"Why, what happened?"

"Or, maybe, it is just social media, not people" he said.

Putting two and two together (as you often need to do with most people, since people generally seem to follow some will-o-the-wisp in their own minds with scant regard for how difficult it makes it for the people they are talking to), the chappie seems to have had some problem on social media. Which, by the way, is astonishing only of it does not happen every day.

"Will you get around to saying what the dratted problem is?" 

THAT was more like it. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy to hear that exasperated tone addressed to someone else other than me.

"Logic is dead, I tell you."

By now, all the rest of us were feeling dizzy even without the help of alcohol. This jumping from crag to crag like a billy-goat is something that the great Plum (aka PG Wodehouse for those who have only a distant nodding acquaintance with the man) has had occasion to criticize and, if he had happened to wander in, I would have taken him to my bosom like a brother. (Though, these days, it's best to ask him for permission before doing so. People are so...err...touchy about being touched.)

Seeing one of us reaching for the nearest table-weight while measuring the distance to his head, he added hurriedly, "I mean, there was this thing someone said. I refuted his point logically and he started calling me names. I mean, the dude was cool as a cucumber, making jokes about the other guys who were calling him an idiot, illogical nut and whatnot and me he screams at. How can someone hate logical arguments more than hate speech?"

"What were you discussing?" I bleated, but it got drowned out in a loud shout of laughter.

"Since when did your brain turn to mush, like Suresh's? Of course, he got angry with you. When someone fights your opinions with abuse, it is easy for you to feel superior to them, isn't it? So, of course, you can be cool about it."

"So, you mean...logic is really useless?"

"Oh, not at all! It is very useful...as long as it supports the chap's opinion.  It is downright hateful, much more than anything else, if it refutes it."

"I...I cannot believe it."

"Let me ask you. Who do you hate more, the chap who CALLS you a fool or the chap who PROVES you are a fool?"

Put that way, of course...