|
As I pointed out in my other thread, it is my personal belief that discord, dissenting opinion, and arguments over the issues are healthy for a board such as DU. I know passions can be inflamed, but I am not calling for peace, but rather, civility. I don't care who you are or precisely what the message or issue is, but cutting down a person for their beliefs, no matter how flawed they are to you point of view is not the way to carry on a discussion. The most you can accomplish is to inflame them more and bring the wrath of the moderators down on your head (let's hear it for the mods!). How do you attract people to your cause, with sugar or vinegar? Summarily dismissing someones point of view, due to past behavior, or because of who they are, is not constructive to DU. Much can be lost in translation from thought to text, so I usually think carefully before I type. A perfectly valid point of view can be seen, so easily, as arrogant or condensending, can be dismissed by others, out of hand. Another thing I notice, are wrongful assumptions about a person's motivations about why they bring a subject up, or of a specific position that they believe in. I also hate assumptions based on a person's viewpoint, or political affiliation. In-fighting is fine, as long as it is civil on a basic level of human decency. Who knows, maybe all of us can learn something constructive with the debates and arguments that are presented hear. I would think that being a liberal means having an open as well as critical mind. Do not summarily dismiss someones opinion as having no merit simply because you disagree. Instead, THINK it through, and create a reasonable rebuttal, or perhaps learn from it. That is one thing I love about DU is that there is little to no "parroting" of either the party line, or someone else's viewpoint simply for the sake of the status quo. The key is that nobody knows everything, so we all have something to learn from each other, if nothing else, it hones our debating skills. I am dismayed at the lack of civil discourse present on this board, but I will not hesistate to say it is the best discussion board out here, in the Wilds of the Internet. One thing that I thought of that I think would be interesting is a mock presidential campaign, using members of DU as the potential candidates, and finally culminating in a "live" moderated debate between the various candidates, with the rest of DU as spectators and potential voters in this "election". Just some thoughts.
|