I’ve been asked by multiple people to look at this thread. I’ve made comments in another thread and don’t see much to add here, other than regarding this bit:
I’d prefer to see more distinction between people and ideas here. I would posit that it’s very very rare to meet a person in life that we can’t learn anything from. If I find myself in a position where I think that about a person (or set of people), but I stay open, then I have reliably discovered that it was I who didn’t fully understand that person.
If you’ve “flipped the bit” on engaging with another person (which is sometimes a pragmatic and valid move to make, to define an engagement boundary for oneself!), then I ask that you attempt to hold that boundary cleanly by focusing on ideas — when people are named, this creates an impulse to further engagement that runs counter to one’s desired boundary.
(Oh, on a similar note, I’m not a fan of bringing a beef with Hanzi into this forum. It didn’t strike me as relevant to the point, so it felt like drama-bait to me. This is just a low-strength passing-by comment.)