> Put another way: What's so special about "not-software" or "not-duck" that excludes it from the issue you have with software or duck patents?
That's pretty much my point. The original construction assumes that not only is there nothing special, but that the person arguing against software (duck) patents thinks that there is nothing special.
My real complaint is phrasing it by saying that a person who argues against software patents must be opposed to all patents, when it would be much more correct and much less insulting to say that this person should be opposed to all patents. One reduces the other person's argument to an absurd degree without allowing for any possibility that they might have a point, and the other just states why you (or whoever) think they're wrong.
I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I'm sorry you were insulted by something I didn't say, and that you feel the argument you didn't make was unfairly reduced to absurdity. I was only trying to help.
That's pretty much my point. The original construction assumes that not only is there nothing special, but that the person arguing against software (duck) patents thinks that there is nothing special.
My real complaint is phrasing it by saying that a person who argues against software patents must be opposed to all patents, when it would be much more correct and much less insulting to say that this person should be opposed to all patents. One reduces the other person's argument to an absurd degree without allowing for any possibility that they might have a point, and the other just states why you (or whoever) think they're wrong.