My pareidolia knows no bounds.

<b>[rderosa] "Larry, in all honesty, I didn't take Fred's comment as an insult to me, but rather as what he thought about Ayn Rand."</b>

His comments about Ayn are not relevant to this issue.

He was referring to you, because you mentioned her and by extension her philosophy.

Since you mentioned her favorably, your obvious philosophical leanings were revealed.

He then proceeded to besmirch them.

He owes an apology to you, not to Ayn.

Hmm. On second thought, perhaps he owes an apology to both of you. But for now I will settle for an apology to you.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Larry Burford</i>
<br /><b>[rderosa] "Larry, in all honesty, I didn't take Fred's comment as an insult to me, but rather as what he thought about Ayn Rand."</b>

His comments about Ayn are not relevant to this issue.

He was referring to you, because you mentioned her and by extension her philosophy.

Since you mentioned her favorably, your obvious philosophical leanings were revealed.

He then proceeded to besmirch them.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Let's look at the definition of "apology" (bold mine):

# 1 on thefreedictionary.com

apology (-pl-j)
n. pl. apologies
1. An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or <b>offense.</b>

Now let's look at the definition of <b>offense.</b>

Again #1 on thefreedictionary.com

offense (-fns)
n.
1.
a. The act of causing anger, resentment, displeasure, or affront.
b. The state of being offended.

Since pareidoliac caused no <b>anger, resentment, displeasure, or affront</b>, he could not have committed an <b>offense</b>... to me.

Ergo, since he didn't cause an <b>offense</b> to me, there is no reason for him to "acknowledge, express regret or ask pardon for a fault or <b>offense</b>". At least not as far as I'm concerned.

rd

Larry, let me give you an analogy.

Suppose I was talking to one of my old childhood friends who I know voted for Obama. Suppose I said something like, "No offense, but man this guy is really an incompetent, bumbling fool."

I could imagine these particular friends saying, "No offense taken, I know you don't like Obama."

That's pretty much what happened. He knows I like Ayn, and I know he doesn't. It's not going to affect our friendship.

Hmm.

I suppose it ought to be your call.

It looks like this is your lucky day Pareidoliac.

***

Dang. I was really in the mood to smite someone.

I'll remove my interventions from his recent posts in the morning.

Good night.

Thanks Larry.