*stares*

[kyburg]

It is ironic on top of irony that the people involved in the flame war in my living room failed to read the first few sentence of the original post they're all having such a trial with:

Why it's REALLY important to keep your ears open -

Or in this case of this medium - keeping reading, and keep your mouth shut.

Because if you don't - and don't hear both sides - you're going to miss the solution.

Holy merde. Take it outside already.

It's corollary?

Why do you care SO MUCH what someone else thinks of your opinion? If you're so certain it's correct, why does someone poking at it inflame you so?

Smoke from other fires, folks. Beware.

And I'm not interested in winning - I'm interested in solving. Ending. Resolving.

That doesn't happen when you shut the other guy up. Trust me on this one. (And reason one why I haven't shut down the whole thing.)

Flame on. If you must!

Comments

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

*wry* There's an old saying: Opinions are like assholes... everyone has one...

Personally, I do not mind other people having differing opinions to me, so long as they do not try to push the opinion on me after I told them I was not interested. Because that crosses a boundary. I'm interested in debating some things, but not others... and I'm not interested in starting a flame war..

C.

[betnoir.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least it didn't happen in your ACTUAL living room.

Y'all should be *so proud* of me.

I knew I brought that knitting for a reason...

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

*snicker* I'm proud of you and of me...

I figured if I brought crochet stuff, it should be safe regardless...

But, yeah, crafting is usually a safe thing...

C.

[anahata56.livejournal.com]

I looked at that thread for about 4 seconds before I fled screaming.

No

Freekin'

Way.

[poetpaladin.livejournal.com]

I think I've decided to stop responding to her. :P

Holy crap

[turandot.livejournal.com]

Those threads turned out nasty overnight, didn't they?

I run across it a lot on the web, which is why these days I refrain from taking part in these discussions unless the persons debating have proven that they are willing to give the other side the benefit of the doubt. And it is much harder to do when the other side is a nameless person over the web who you don't have to deal with face to face, because it's so much easier to slam someone we never have to deal with again if we so choose.

I'm not saying that I'm a saint, but I've learned the hard way that if you abandon the golden rule at any given stage of a debate, you might as well pack it up right then and there, because you've lost.

Flame wars and cultural anthropology

[dudemungus.livejournal.com]

I see them as kind of ineresting a wierd way--in real life, the perceived (or occasionally real) threat of a debate ending with a punch in the mouth generally keeps us all in line. Even the idea of looking like an ass in front of folks keeps us all in the civil end of the spectrum.

It's neat to see that as we strip the venneers down and throw up the comfort of anonymity, how many people will reduce themselves to name calling and bullying. Pity there's no way to send an "E-punch in the nose" might keep it all civil.