sozobe wrote:Momma, with all due respect, your repetitions of the fact that you believe something do not further a discussion. I can say that I believe that all cats are emissaries of the devil, and point to a website to support my assertion. If people point out the flaws in that website and ask me to provide other support for my position, either with reputable cites or a logical construct of my own, and I just repeatedly state that I believe that cats are emissaries of the devil, that you can believe what you want, we can agree to disagree, but I still firmly believe they are Satanic and that's that... there just isn't much room for rational discussion.
Do you see that?
Thanks sozobe! Been reading this thread with interest, and thinking other other threads where MA just "shuts down" like this, which is, well, all the time. You said it very well.
Totally off the topic of the thread for a moment, but.....
MA - You know how some people use their hand a lot when speaking? If you ask them to sit on their hands and tell a story, they just can't do it.
There are a few phrases you use frequently that just grates on my nerves, for the simple reason that when you use them, it just totally negates what someone else is saying, for no good reason.
I'll bet if you took these phrases out of your writing, you would be incapable of carrying on a conversation, as these expressions are the hands you are sitting on.
How many times do we have to hear.....
I'm sorry but.......translation: I'm not sorry, you're wrong, but saying the word sorry allows me to continue with my 'but' which is just going to rehash what I just said.
That's just what I believe......translation: My mind is closed to even considering anything else. Others words are so many raindrops bouncing off my force field.
Sidenote: I hate the word 'just' and try to avoid using it....have you ever noticed that many times when someone says 'just', they mean the opposite?
For Instance:
I was JUST kinding - No you weren't, you're using the excuse of humor to insult/redicule
I JUST wanted to know - No you don't, you want to know something about me that's none of your business.
I JUST don't see why you don't/can't - Yes you do, but you're going to ignore it, hoping that causes things to go your way.
OK - to continue.
I believe what I believe, and you believe what you believe......translation: You are wrong.
I respect what.......translation: no you don't, it's another way of throwing a 'just' in there, so you can rehash what you just said.
I'm a Christian, and......yeah MA, I think you could totally never say that again here and we would all know you're a Christian. OK, message received, you're a Christian, can we get past that?
now, if you respond to any of the above, it'll be in the vein of.....well, that's JUST how I express myself.
You know what I believe in my heart? You don't want a discussion at all. A discussion implies that one person may actually say something that will make someone else think, Hey, I never thought of that, good point, actually, maybe that will even change my mind about this aspect of what we're talking about.
I believe you JUST want to keep going over and over the same points.
I learn new stuff from so many other posters here, every day I think "wow, I didn't know that" or "jeez, that's interesting, I'll have to think about that"
Frankly, I never get that from you.
I have a friend that I play this informal game of "what if" with.
We have some similar beliefs, some disimilar.
One of us will ponder "what if......" something really different from how we have been raised to believe.
We have such a great time, and from taking down these artifical walls we put up of how things are, sometimes we get these incredibly complex ideas and epiphanies.
We both come away with our basic ideas intact, but with a better appreciation as to why.
Neither one of us believes we're going to be struck by lightning, we're excerising our brains.
Why are you so afraid of doing that? (please, that's a rhetorical question, I absolutely know what your answer would be.
