However I constantly feel myself drawn towards totally meaningless comment debates on blogs and message boards. My most recent incidents have been in the Huffington Post. I constantly fall for the deception that I will be able present my perspective in such a way that the other side will understand where I'm coming from. I know I won't convince anyone, but just maybe they won't think I'm crazy. Maybe just maybe we can have a discussion where we learn from the other side.
It's never happened.
The Internet is filled with opinionated and ignorant people. Somehow those are the only people I find myself debating.
I would like to think I'm a reasonable person with a gift for finding common ground. However based on all of my discussions this past week this is not the case.
Apparently I'm a religious nut, mysoginist, gun crazy, and I don't care mothers or children. All of this from asking questions and stating my beliefs as gently as I can.
I started writing this posts roughly two weeks ago. In that time I have once again found myself stuck debating people on the internet. On one occasion I wrote four different responses to someone, and posted ZERO of those responses. I literally waisted about two hours of my life writing responses I DIDN'T EVEN POST.
Why can't I stop? For some reason I just can't learn, stay away from Online debate.
I think on some level we have the responsibility to voice truth, even if it's not openly received. There has to be another voice in the discussion, or the lies spoken loudest and longest will be accepted as irrefutably true.
ReplyDelete"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil..." ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I obviously haven't learned either, as shown by the whole pinterest debacle a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThough, it did serve as a great example to my Sunday School class about persecution in today's world.
It's fascinating just how passionate people are about EVERYTHING! They're mean and nasty too, and people so ignorantly paint people who oppose them as evil mustache twirling villains.
ReplyDeleteSome people honestly believe that everyone that is pro-life JUST WANT TO CONTROL WOMEN'S BODIES!!! It's as if they've never once stopped to think beyond their position. They've never once considered that someone may actually believe that the unborn are alive, and that that belief may have moral implications for millions of people regardless of what the law says.