It's difficult for me to understand how some folks think. Perhaps it's because they really don't, but just string together the bits they're told in an order that looks like thoughts.
Thanks!
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
It's difficult for me to understand how some folks think. Perhaps it's because they really don't, but just string together the bits they're told in an order that looks like thoughts.
Thanks!
Poisoning-the-well is a surprisingly effective technique.
Your own (apparent) eagerness to "rush-to-disqualify" those who seem to disagree with you is a good example of this.
I certainly seek to resolve points of disagreement, through engaging with folks with differing opinions, as you well know from experience. I reckon that reveals I consider them qualified to have opinions, and that I value their personal opinions enough to undertake discussion I hope will result in consilience.
There are few folks I don't think are qualified to speak their opinions, and those are just trolls, whom I might even agree with. I don't understand how I disqualify folks who disagree with me. I fairly often change my opinion because someone disagreed with me and proved they were right to my great benefit.
I mistook some of @lordbutterfly's statements as trollery, but later realized he did simply disagree. My earlier dismissal of his commentary was due to the fact I thought he was unwilling to consider the evidence. That's just trolling. However, when he pointed out he did consider the evidence but disagreed with me, I changed my tone.
Poisoning the well works very well. It's not an argument though. As you state, it's a tactic that degrades discussion rather than improves it IMHO.