>Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to this thread (for hopefully
>obvious reasons)....
>Please don't try to censor through insults. It never works
>and the list quickly degenerates into flamewars.
And is THAT the kind of list we want here?!?
(Hmmmm... Wait a minute... Back-up... ) Maybe that shouldn't be such a flip smartass question after all. (?) Maybe it is a serious question worth asking:
At the end of the day, isn't it really the petty arguments, the verbal sparring, the rare chance to slam-dunk some stupid ignorant yokel, that keeps bringing us back for more? Shouldn't we all just admit that?
One of the things I'm really good at is arguing. (Which will come as no surprise to many of you, I'm sure.) I have a flare for it and I often just enjoy a good argument for its own sake, regardless of the outcome one way or the other. But lately I'm becoming more and more aware of how I argue, my learned responses that keep popping-up again and again out of habit, and how these shape the conversations I'm a part of. And, frankly, I don't like it one bit.
It's a struggle. I spend more time rewriting than writing lately. I've deleted more of my posts than I've sent and I still can't seem to pull it off. I watch helplessly as the few conversations I do engage in here degrade into petty infighting before my very eyes. And that's the real problem, not that it's happening--it probably always has been--but now, sadly, I can see it when it happens. I know when I'm just fanning the flames; when any response I can make will be misunderstood anyway. And it is _so very_ frustrating to watch a conversation head down that path and knowing that I either helped send it there or was simply unable to stop its eventual downward slide.
Yes, there are a few of you out there fighting the tide. (I suspect y'all know who you are.) I see it. And it does give me some hope. I know how hard it is to offer the measured, thoughtful response, so I enjoy it all the more when I see someone go out of their way to be civil when they don't have to. It can be done. But one thing remains discouraging--it's that those wonderful, patient and thoughtful responses just don't seem to be the ones that are begetting more responses.
-Prof. Tim