In Reply to: Good post by Thinker & a question posted by Bystander on November 20, 2002 at 09:05:18:
Otherwise, how could we understand each other?
A lot depends on the specific label and the tone that's used. This is more so with words that carry ambiguous meanings, like fundamentalism. Even something that may otherwise seem to be an insult can be taken lightly because of its tone and context. There is an appropriate way and tone to show anger, respect, interest, etc. and all human beings understand it, even in written language.
I have to confess that I can read and perceive the tone but I cannot write and give a tone, I am tone impaired and only have one tone (monotone) even though I have quite a few labels.
So, is it the label or the tone?