fuckyeahdontbeadouche:

julesliketheverne reblogged your photo: The idea behind the tone argument is that…

Aw, Autostraddle you disappoint me. Tone argument isn’t valid. Especially when you’re talking about folks who have lots…

I see you had some problems with the description. Woud you have any ideas on how to make it a better one? Because I’m willing to re-write it. :)

I feel like it doesn’t quite work.  While the situation you present does illustrate differences in approach, the differences are irrelevant to tone.  It’s all about substance.  You can be nice and make substantive arguments, you can be mean and make substantive arguments, you can be nice and say nothing of substance, and you can be mean and say nothing of substance.

It’s less common for people to call out the third category, because, unless they work at it, they can be ignored relatively easily.  However, substantive arguments and a “bad” attitude both provoke hostility.

So, the problem is not tone, it’s when there’s nothing to what they’re saying except their tone (no matter what the tone actually is).