[Old Professer]

I hate having to explain everything in minute detail, but for some people there is no other way:

Anytime one begins an argument with the phrase, "Most reasonable people..." he is arguing that anyone who doesn't agree with him is unreasonable and therefore the counterargument has no merit apriori.

The use of the phrase is what galls me, since it is used smugly by mostly people who have no real argument nor interest in true debate.

[tdadams]

The use of the phrase is what galls me, since it is used smugly by mostly people who have no real argument nor interest in true debate.

Or sometimes it's just the truth. Most people, most reasonable people, simply aren't seeing the sky falling like so many people here on FR are. That's a fact.

Maybe what's really galling you is that most people don't seem to be swayed by the bellicose and overblown anti-gay rhetoric so popular with social conservatives.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Anytime one begins an argument with the phrase, "Most reasonable people..." he is arguing that anyone who doesn't agree with him is unreasonable and therefore the counterargument has no merit apriori.

Much like Plato's Euthyphro and how Socrates challenges Euthyphro on his "piety to the gods."

[I got the rope]

...therefore the counterargument has no merit apriori.

Very observant...look at post #115.