There have been a lot of debates lately on CoasterBuzz about, well, I'm not even sure, except to say that there are two or three people who seem to take it as some personal attack when you criticize their favorite park. Then it degrades into a, "Well your park isn't this or that," or, "You're picking on me," whenever they feel they're losing ground in the debate. Sometimes my debate shortcuts are invoked too.
This got me to thinking about a bigger problem, in that everyone wants everything to be simple, or black and white. You're for or against the war, Republican or Democrat, pro-life or pro-choice, etc. It's like there's no wiggle room for complex issues to be, well, complex. You must be classified as one or the other, and that's that.
And honestly, who lives in that fantasy world? Life is such a gray area in almost every way.
The first level of cognitive structural development theory (at least Perry's) is dual thinking. Most people at a basic level of reasoning can only think in dualistic terms (right/wrong, yes/no, black/white, etc). As one grows cognitively, the theory indicates that their ability to reason in multiplicities also grows. The theory goes that eventually a person can(few do) develop to a point of channeling their reasoning into terms that serve civility, the greater good, or some other commitment.
Anyway, the point being that there are many factors that could leave the folks you read about arguing in dual terms: age, education, lack of exposure to others who are at a higher cognitive development level.
Thank goodness my graduate education wasn't for nothing, right? ;) Actually I love development theory.
The thing that gets me is why so many people have to make things so emotional? Even those who start out using logic can often end up making things personal or emotional.
^True. Hey, even when we disagree, though, I never think you're picking on me specifically. I may think your opinion is idiotic, not as important as my own, and that you're wrong, but I don't think you're picking on me. ;)
I will say, though, that in the current thread on Buzz, I enjoy reading you and Ascough debate each other because you're both intelligent enough and have strong opinions and informed opinions. But more than just a couple others are just mind numbingly stupid sounding.
There is a lot of bullshit on CoasterBuzz as well as PointBuzz.
There are a lot of emotional outbursts and opinionated debates that are meaningless. Also, there are a lot of personal attacks on other members. Tons of sarcasm. It kind of takes the fun out of discussing topics because one is afraid of getting attacked for their opinion or view on a certain topic or idea.
Although, I will say that everyone is at fault. But, the person mostly at fault is you, Jeff.
You slaughter people if they do not have every minuscule fact or figure correct. You force your ignorance and arrogance on someone just for the pleasure of throwing your weight around...
Some may argue that this is a personal attack on you. It is not. More of a suggestion. If you change your attitude, others will change in your footsteps.
Regardless of how I think Jeff comes off online at times, some people in that thread automatically think that Jeff's Opinion=He Hates me.
Even if that were true, and there are people on both sides that are just there to argue/debate, certain ones take it to heart and think that any opinion contrary to their own=Jeff hates me.
I don't even have to go to the link to know which thread that is.
People have opinions and they simply aren't always going to match someone else's, but as Jeff says, more often than not differing opinions end up in a really stupid pissing contest of "I'm right, you're wrong." when neither is really wrong OR right. It's all a matter of personal preference.
What pisses some of us off (and I suspect this is what Jeff is getting at) is when someone tries to justify his "right opinion" with total bullshit. It's nothing to do with Jeff's "attitude" or specific people. He's just pointing out how stupid it is to try to justify an opinion as the CORRECT opinion with by spouting crap.