4th February 2003, 7:52 PM
I agree with your intentions OB1. I will say that the only debate I was actually serious about was the abortion thing in "uh-oh", but still I had attempted to try and stop arguing so much. It's nice to see you want to improve, and make a better attempt to reveal when you are joking. In all reality, we wouldn't have known you weren't serious about that first paragraph unless you actually SAID "I jest". It's just that it actually sounds like something you would really say, mainly because it was hard to tell that you were in fact joking every single time you said "I've always been right, you need to admit you are wrong". I can see that now, and in fact realize it was silly to think any smart person would actually say something like that, but it was kinda hard to see through it. For future refference, try not to keep the whole attitude of that joke up for like months at a time. It makes it easier to tell you are joking.
Oh, and don't worry, I'm not being sarcastic here. I am aware you are joking since you went out of your way to say so in a few conversations on MSN. Anyway, one thing I would like to make clear is that I didn't actually take any debate seriously and often joked about how pointless it was. Often my opinions would be what I thought, and I kept up at it because to me debating is a fun game, but I was always aware how silly it always was.
Anyway, here's the flaw. We get into these things, and often even if we don't take the debate itself seriously at all, we take the person too seriously. I do believe this is the case with all of the 3 of us who get into this the most (we know who we are). In a debate, the one thing one should NEVER do is have any emotions at all aimed at the other person. That's how wars are started :D. We should get like vulcans when we think of the other person in the debate, not like klingons.
For instance, I COULD get upset right now, and point out that OB1 is only now realizing the very point I was trying to make all ALONG! But I won't, because I'm the bigger cat.
That was a test, I'm sorry for saying that. That's an example of the kind of things we did in fact. So, let's just end this stupidity, and for now on when we state opinions, no more rebuttles about how the other person is "wrong" about something or whatever. I think we all understand it's just not funny at this point. (I myself have never been a fan of the kind of friendship where everyone insults that one friend who just did something funny.) So, let's end the random saying of "idiot".
Oh, and don't worry, I'm not being sarcastic here. I am aware you are joking since you went out of your way to say so in a few conversations on MSN. Anyway, one thing I would like to make clear is that I didn't actually take any debate seriously and often joked about how pointless it was. Often my opinions would be what I thought, and I kept up at it because to me debating is a fun game, but I was always aware how silly it always was.
Anyway, here's the flaw. We get into these things, and often even if we don't take the debate itself seriously at all, we take the person too seriously. I do believe this is the case with all of the 3 of us who get into this the most (we know who we are). In a debate, the one thing one should NEVER do is have any emotions at all aimed at the other person. That's how wars are started :D. We should get like vulcans when we think of the other person in the debate, not like klingons.
For instance, I COULD get upset right now, and point out that OB1 is only now realizing the very point I was trying to make all ALONG! But I won't, because I'm the bigger cat.
That was a test, I'm sorry for saying that. That's an example of the kind of things we did in fact. So, let's just end this stupidity, and for now on when we state opinions, no more rebuttles about how the other person is "wrong" about something or whatever. I think we all understand it's just not funny at this point. (I myself have never been a fan of the kind of friendship where everyone insults that one friend who just did something funny.) So, let's end the random saying of "idiot".
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)