Confession and praise for DU. [View all]

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

Confession: sometimes I post at conservative boards. I engage them without spite or vitriol but simply using various forms of logic and reason, pretty much the same as I do here at DU. And I always get banned. Always. And I try to be extra polite. But I am as equally relentless there as I am here. When I ask someone to explain their logic to me, I don't hesitate to show them how it is racist or sexist or unconstitutional or unChristian. I like to show them where their logic leads or where it has come from. I find that internal critiques are really irritating to them. I then get banned, because I refuse to say that our disagreement is a matter of "opinion"; if I've shown you how your logic breaks down and you no longer have an answer, one can no longer appeal to "opinion" (unless one has a lot of training in logic or epistemology, which is a really fun discussion).

Praise: Du has always allowed me to work through any argument I desire, even if I'm playing devil's advocate. Most members here, even though we disagree, usually take my hyper-logical prose as just that--with no offense. Even when I lose patience and feel entitled to be s snarky jerk here, people are always kind to me. And when they're not kind, they're wonderful assholes who shake me out of my own assholish funk. It's just nice that I've been here for almost 10 years, have had various arguments about gun control and abortion (I've taken all sides), religion, etc., been called names, have called people names, and I'm still here (as are the people who call me names).

So any way, when things get hot around here, it's just nice to say thanks. I appreciate the venue for open minds to be open and opened.