DescentBB

About a year or so ago I stopped reading and posting on this board. I had lost my sense of humour about it all and found I was getting angry at those that I felt lacked flexability in their opinions and I dispaired for the lives of the tens of thousands of innocent civilians that were going to die to satisfy the complex political issues of the day.
So PXO being down brought me back to get some information and, in passing I checked out Ethics and Commentary again. And what do I find but the same arguments being put forward by the same argumenters. Lothar is still strongly Christian, Birdseye still left of center, Bash still slightly to the right of Attilla the Hun. Long complex threads with some well researched and well spoken posts and some opinionated and ignorant posts.
So are we all having fun here? Since there is obviously no chance of ever changing anyone's mind on any subject why do you all still bang away at each other? Is it for the practice? I sometime see such well researched and written posts that I can't help but think the time would have been better used somewhere else, heck ANYwhere else. Write your mayor letters like that and maybe town hall will change the parking regulations to something that reduces stress in the workplace that will produce happier, more productive people that live in peace and harmony. Or something.

I guess I have my sense of humour somewhat back in place but I know I have to keep my time reading here low or I will be back to kicking the dog again.

I see the E&C forum as a place to vent about your opinions, but in a more intelligent manner than a shouting match. While you may not change anyone's mind, you can let everyone know your take, and by doing that you may create a sense of more understanding of the other side. Granted, there have been many discussions in here that have devolved into flame wars, but the most worthwhile threads are those with intelligent, thought-out posts. In a way, it really helps everyone to learn more about a certain topic. For a good example, see the recent "Calling someone a fool" thread with Drakona's posts; she explained her views on faith to others who were asking questions. Ideally, I think, that's how this forum works. I'm glad that the E&C forum is the way it is, too, because there's a general balance of viewpoints. Some other forums I've seen aren't so fortunate. (Take a look at the HLP forums; they're off the left end of the scale and censor the President's name .)

A whole year and Lothar is still strongly christian!!!!..... whood a funk it.

i'm dabling a bit with introducing subjects other than usa politics.
so far it hasn't been catching on

if your gonna come back, i suggest you do as i do and just skip all threads that look to be left/right politically charged, these can generally be seen by watching who posts them. some ppl post nothing but, so it's easy.

this forum isn't really limited to just political wing mud throwing. it's just that the ones who like that kinda stuff have the biggest mouths. so stick around

LOL

Here are some things that aren't immediately obvious from a couple days of reading, but that you'd see if you stuck around:
1) On some individual issues, I've *gasp* changed my mind due to E&C discussion
2) While the idealogues like me and Birds and bash tend to stick to our own positions, there are a lot of people who post here because they're unsure of things and asking questions, and some of them have been swayed at different times (on some issues, I'm the "unsure" person who gets swayed.)
3) At least a few of us have grown to understand the "other side" a lot better over the past year or six. I still disagree with a lot of it, but at least now I understand the details better :) A lot of others are now much friendlier to my points of view on certain issues, too.
4) I've refined and enhanced my own ideas under criticism from others, so that ideas I was kind of sure about before, I now have a lot more clarity and I'm much more sure about them.

I don't think it's realistic to expect to see fundamental changes (religious conversions, or jumping sides politically) in people very often -- really, most people will only undergo one or two shifts of that type in their entire lives. And despite the Sunday-school "tell people about Jesus and they'll instantly change" mentality, for most people, the changes are really gradual. Being gone a year probably isn't long enough to expect any of the "big fish" in this little pond to be totally reversed. But what we have seen is a lot of the "big fish" asking questions and getting to know each other, and that's definitely been worth it.

absolutely. I thank each member that has posted for pushing me to refine and research my arguments much better.

I've learned significantly from Will, Bash, Woodchip, Lothar, hell even cuda

I definitely feel like I understand the opposing side more, and I've learned things that changed my opinion.

"I sometime see such well researched and written posts that I can't help but think the time would have been better used somewhere else, heck ANYwhere else"

Since most of my major college writing courses have ended, I find this to be the sole reason I still write regularly and extensively. That's worth something!