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Excellent!Good question. Not easily answered. Good thing is I already did in a few other OP's. The conversation I'm having is also interesting in those I believe.
This is about sourcing
This one I can't quote for some reason but it directly answers your question.
My main motivation to be here is to get as close to the "truth" as I can. What I mean by that is testing myself to see how close my opinions are to reality. To learn, and hopefully become a better person. Realizing full well that I am a narcissist and as such by definition think I'm perfect.
To do this I question myself first and foremost, and when I talk to someone I follow some very basic rules for how I do it.
-I try to avoid fallacious arguments. There are many, some of them are hard to spot, and I'm not always successful, but a fallacy by definition is a bad argument. Using them doesn't invalidate the premise, but it doesn't further it. They are things you use quite a lot of the time when you can't come up with a good argument.
-I don't avoid direct questions when asked. I'm not saying I never miss one but dodging something you don't have a good reply to is cowardice in my opinion. It also gets me in trouble. Because it gives the person I talk to an easy way to derail a debate. Simply ask me questions, and pretty soon I'll be a dog chasing my tail. It's by the way also why I'm going on this tangent, and at the same time am trying to refocus the debate.
-I source what I say and check other people's sources. Something by the way I've learned over the years is an incredible way to educate yourself.
-I make an effort to look at an opponent's argument with an open mind. This is incredibly hard. Ego is a hard thing to overcome.
-I strive for intellectual honesty. Again, not always successful sometimes, again my ego gets in the way.
It's the curse of the internet, I think. There are no consequences to dishonesty. Talking face-to-face makes it harder to deflect. It makes it impossible to just leave without implying you lost the argument. You can't just say what you want.Excellent!
My reason for being here is similar.
I like having my knowledge challenged. My conceptions questioned. My best time here is when someone forces me to go look for the information I need to back or attack a proposition.
Unfortunately, few seek to challenge but rather to deny facts when presented and insult the presentation of truth the don't like.
My best time here is when someone forces me to go look for the information I need to back or attack a proposition.
It's a political forum.It's the curse of the internet, I think. There are no consequences to dishonesty. Talking face-to-face makes it harder to deflect. It makes it impossible to just leave without implying you lost the argument. You can't just say what you want.
Here you don't have to look the people in the eyes. Who really cares what they think. It's all about the fight, not about truth.
Actually, I have changed my opinion on here. Not just conceded a point, but realized my basic premise wasn't tenable and said as much. Probably makes me unique in this forum.It's a political forum.
I'm not here to chat with people with whom I agree.
I learn nothing from those with which I agree but I do hope to learn from the others.
There is no changing of opinions here.
I understand folks "on the other side" go to place like EPOCH TIMES, NEWSMAX, STORMFRONT and others to have their lunacies confirmed and why those confirmations drive their hatred of what they call MSM.
My beliefs are confirmed here when I read the lunacies posted and feel the hate that consumes them and I do laugh at what must be their view of their place in the world as it is true "we are all the heroes of our own stories."
That you've changed your mind is commendable.Actually, I have changed my opinion on here. Not just conceded a point, but realized my basic premise wasn't tenable and said as much. Probably makes me unique in this forum.
It always gets me how everybody here pretends they are right about everything. Never ever questioning how ludicrous that actual belief is. Nobody is perfect and all-knowing. Nor is being right all the time a sign of strength or intelligence. I know for a fact that admitting fault takes infinitely more courage than insisting you're right when you're obviously wrong and no one no, matter how smart can reasonably be expected to be right all the time.
Me too. You're cursed with being right more of the time than anyone else here. Better you than me.i love it when i am challenged on something i post & show proof & voila! ...
crickets.
Me too. You're cursed with being right more of the time than anyone else here. Better you than me.
The truth is FBI murdered a 75 year old man of him having an AR 15The TRUTH is what people LIE about.
The LIE is what people will go to their graves for, claiming it IS the truth.
The universe contains much circumstantial evidence for the existence of a higher power and/or intelligence behind it all. But that is not PROOF that God exists, and therefore not a self-evident TRUTH.
Am unable to process the statement DEMOCRACY DIES UNDER DEMOCRATESThe universe contains much circumstantial evidence for the existence of a higher power and/or intelligence behind it all. But that is not PROOF that God exists, and therefore not a self-evident TRUTH.
Doesn't exist.Something that can be empirically proven.
