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Personally, even if my opinions have not shifted at all (which barely ever happens), I practice having to express them again so that I find more eloquent ways o

Personally, even if my opinions have not shifted at all (which barely ever happens), I practice having to express them again so that I find more eloquent ways of doing so. Once they solidify enough, I might write an essay I could mention I wrote, but in most scenarios I wouldn’t refer someone to my own quotes out of respect. I hold others to the same standard, so for the record I’m not reading links to your own comments. Imagine people talking by a water cooler; yes I know roughly your view, and you know mine, but it doesn’t mean you should mandate me to hear quotes of yourself recorded at this same water cooler in the past instead of responding.

rglullis 4y ago
> I might write an essay Even if I went through all the trouble of writing an essay, it would be a simple collage of all these arguments, maybe organized in some more coherent form. For what? Those "in favor" would just not see anything new, those "against" it would just use it to nitpick and create strawmen in an attempt to keep their worldview intact. I'd rather keep the discussion focused on the parts that can be addressed directly to avoid this. > I practice having to express them again so that I find more eloquent ways of doing so. I've gotten to the point where I discussed this with so many people that I ran out of ways of conveying the same idea. I am not putting the links out of snark. I am putting them because they already express the same idea that I would've typed out anyway. Would you feel better if I simply copied-and-pasted these responses? > Imagine people talking by a water cooler; yes I know roughly your view, and you know mine. I am not telling you to listen to all the battle cries or the "put downs" that have been recorded. I was using these links as a way to advance the conversation to a point where we can actually establish the differences. Can you imagine if everybody only wanted to debate something if they re-hashed all their priors?

rglullis 4y ago

> I might write an essay Even if I went through all the trouble of writing an essay, it would be a simple collage of all these arguments, maybe organized in some more coherent form. For what? Those "in favor" would just not see anything new, those "against" it would just use it to nitpick and create strawmen in an attempt to keep their worldview intact. I'd rather keep the discussion focused on the parts that can be addressed directly to avoid this. > I practice having to express them again so that I find more eloquent ways of doing so. I've gotten to the point where I discussed this with so many people that I ran out of ways of conveying the same idea. I am not putting the links out of snark. I am putting them because they already express the same idea that I would've typed out anyway. Would you feel better if I simply copied-and-pasted these responses? > Imagine people talking by a water cooler; yes I know roughly your view, and you know mine. I am not telling you to listen to all the battle cries or the "put downs" that have been recorded. I was using these links as a way to advance the conversation to a point where we can actually establish the differences. Can you imagine if everybody only wanted to debate something if they re-hashed all their priors?