Discussion On Discussions

reasa · February 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Why do we even discuss this stuff on a forum? I mean really now. No one is going to change anyone else's mind. All this debating/arguing/discussing/flaming is nothing more than ppl intelluctually masturbating. Yes I too Im guilty of this pointless masturbating. I admit I have done it myself many, many, many times but in the end what is accomplished? Nothing really. All that was accomplished was the flamers got told to shut up or be banned, the rest continued believeing what they want to believe no matter what any other side has said.

Ppl typing the same arguements over and over and over and over and over and over, and for what? The feeling that "Ooooo I just owned that guy in debate?" Or is it the satisfaction of hearing one's voice? What is the purpose of these discussions other than that? We all know no one is gonna change thier mind. It's pointless. Why argue/debate/discuss if you know you arent gonna change the other guys mind? Why?

</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Well what do you think, are they pointless I for one enjoy them.
Do you think you can change what someone belives?

Sirus · February 2003

Discussion of controversy in a open-minded and civil manner promotes progressivism and intellectualism.

It's good to debate and exchange ideas. But just as important to be courteous and civil.

In addition to this, Knowledge truly is power, for its our knowledge that shapes the future, in regards to the decisions we make. Better establish and exchange ideas and beliefs here and now before we enter these situations with little experiences. Indeed, not all of us or maybe not any of this anytime in our life, but these discussions seriously promote growth spiritually and mentally, and are even good for your brain no less.

Discussions in these environments also help us adjust to different environments when discussing the samething. So i'll probably be the greatest advocate of this section of this forum.

CanadianWolverine · February 2003

I don't see it as trying to convince or force another person to accept my view as their own, but rather as an exchange of ideas. Lack of proliferation of ideas seems to allow certain ideas to flourish, that normally wouldn't see the light of day if expossed to other ideas. Propaganda seems to work best in enviroments where ideas are only on a one way street or street controlled by either of the sides in a discusion. Of course the opposite seems to be just as bad, where ideas overload, and the one that sticks in your head the best conquers others, instead of complimenting and sharing space with other ideas in your conciousness. So, at set of respected guidelines regarding idea communication must be adhered to so that each side can send and recieve without overloading or controlling the other.

What it appears the poster is objecting to is reitteration or more commonly seen ( and this is how it seems it is viewed by the poster quoted) in playgrounds everywhere as "Uh huh"..."Nuh uh"..."Yes"..."No"... etc, etc, etc. But here's the problem, sometimes we reitterate our ideas to try to clarify and give supporting arguments to our statements. We might show the how, what, when, where, who, and why of our positions, that we might have forgotten or not cared to include in our first post, as it would be a rather long post if we did and it would be impossible to imagine all the possible questions and counter arguments raised by other imaginations regarding your post. Also, reitteration allows us to keep a post on topic while exploring new tangents brought up by other posters, so that the currently discussed ideas surrounding the original are shown to be in relation to the posters previous ideas. It seems to me that a very lively and engaged debate can appear to simplified to a "Yes, I'm right - No, you're wrong" argument but in doing so it loses alot of the loose ends yet to be explored and the debate's view is more narrow than before, stagnating what was a lively, engaging, and most likely heated debate of opposing views, which seems to be what has happened in a good number of threads that had alot more potential than that.

moultano · February 2003

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (reasa @ Feb 26 2003, 09:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Do you think you can change what someone belives?  </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> 
Definitely. It has happened to me on many occasions. The key I think is to recognize how you can reduce the argument. Good debates will always come to a conclusion. Either the sides will come to an agreement, or the same arguments will be repeated. You can get into an infinite loop of sorts. In the latter case, its time to reduce the argument. Whene this happens it is the result of some deeper difference in belief that can be pinpointed and extracted. The conclusion to the argument, rather than "A is right", becomes "if you believe X then A follows logically. If you believe Y then B follows logically." Then you can try to debate X and Y, or find that you have hit upon an unanswerable question.

Nemesis_Zero · February 2003

Ah, the meta-discussion. Well, this'll be pretty one-sided, because we all joined for a discussion, after all <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

SoulSkorpion · March 2003

You can only change someone's mind in an argument if that person allows you to. It's really as simple as that. When I argue I'm usually prepared to change my stance if the argument is really convincing enough, but unless I make that decision myself I find I will continue to reject what the other person says.

Let's face it - facts and truth have NOTHING to do with what a person believes <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

Weeeell... not nothing, but you get the idea.

Not that I'm knocking pointless debate. I'm not a big fan of wading through 22 pages of it, but otherwise it's kinda fun <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

Discussion On Discussions

Comments