I thought I'd address this here as I also thought it might be easy to copy and paste into the actual forum when needed.
If you're not familiar with me, I do argue on these forums. A lot. As much as people say UG is full of stupid teenage virgins, there's a rich variety of pretty intelligent people on UG who are always worth coming back to UG for. They're always fun to argue or discuss with. I also do the same in other parts of the forums on UG.
Yet I still hear that mantra, now almost sounding erotic to their ears:
'Arguing on the internet is like the special Olympics, even if you win you're still retarded.'
This statement is fucking retarded.
We argue all the time in the religion and philosophy thread. We can get pretty angry with each other. But, it's good fun. Surprise surprise, some people argue because they take leisure out of it. I study Philosophy for fucks sake. That subject would be no where near as interesting and exciting if it wasn't for arguing. What the fuck is wrong in that?
Also, the religion and philosophy thread, the politics thread, these threads have served me well. They have educated me, the regulars, and even the many lurkers. Through arguing we learn things, and we've learnt all sorts of great things. We learn things through arguing. What the fuck is wrong in that?
And then there's 'you're not going to change anyone's mind'. Bullshit. I have had my mind changed. I have changed other people's minds. Even if you don't get them to admit they're wrong there and then they can have their mind changed because of you at a later date, if they're honest enough to recap over arguments they had.
Not that arguments are just about changing minds; the honest man will assert thoughts, ideas and opinions with a good mind to argue, but will honestly back down from their argument once they realise they are wrong. The person making the argument can find out that they are talking a crock of bullshit when meeting opposition, thus they are able to correct themselves. People who have opinions and never seek out opposition to their opinions will never find out if they are wrong or not. They are doing themselves a disservice.
Also, the only key difference between arguing on the internet and in real life is that arguing on the internet has a text based medium. If you want to be consistent, why not not argue at all?
If you want to do that, feel free to take the liberty to be a boring person, oppressed because you do not wish to take up any arguments.
Final notes: I'm getting pissed off with these comments I get on the forums now.
'Oh, internet tough guy, uh?'
Fuck no. I will argue on the net as I do in real life, minus some minor changes.
'Why are you so angry?'
I'm not. I'm rarely angry, surprisingly. I can only think of two scenarios which thoroughly made me angry on UG.
Excellent blog.
Debating on the net has also helped me to be able to admit when I am wrong in real life. It's also really really great for developing critical thinking skills.
I thoroughly agree with this blog, after all the internet can be used as a medium to challenge your views against the views of people you wouldn't normally associate with or encounter in real life and therefore expand your view of other people's realities and thoughts. I enjoyed reading this
Haha I've had the privilege of arguing with you (at least once if I remember correctly). I'd admit you were one of the few people there that didn't resort to flaming when arguing with us religious folk.
Once I get more learned, I'll try to get more involved ; )
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Arguing on the internet blog
