my knowledge about certain issues, and found that doing so create a new sort of nuance regarding my opinion on an issue. A way of saying that what seemed to be black or white, to me, became more an issue of shades of gray.

Aside from a few posters, most arguments presented on the board are overly weak, highly emotional, overly partisan and without merit.  That's why I've been away for a while.

Many times - let's see, I had to reverse my view on an NRA

issue after JohnGalt persuaded me I was wrong; see link.

     More recently, Timbow pointed out I was dead wrong when I disputed that the State of Texas was offering millions to a guy wrongfully convicted;

      Ed pointed out I was in error when I used the Fort Hood shooting to debunk the notion that being armed reduced the likelihood of crime - he pointed out to my surprise that Fort Hood had strict gun control rules.

   My post about India being a Muslim nation was quickly shot down when someone pointed out it was Hindu majority.

         Zisk persuaded me that I was a little too quick to excuse Oliver Stone's comments and I back off a little,  although my main complaint was with the bozo OP who called Stone a left wing Hitler.


     Is that enough for you? Please don;t make me confess about my call on the Wake-Kentucky game....




-- Modified on 8/19/2010 4:20:48 PM

But I agree most postings are clearly the party line and not the product of an individual forming his opinion.

But that is My Opinion.

I have ..I used to think drones attacking terrorists  in Pakistan were cool..Marikod got me thinking it might not be so smart, due to mistaken identities and  accidental civilian deaths.

-- Modified on 8/19/2010 4:37:24 PM

I gave praise to Bill Clinton for a strong economy and balanced budget. I was told some things that greatly and luckily aided him, like the dotcom boom and peace dividend.

I still think he did a good job overall.

analysis. St Croix and GaGambler have excellent economic insights et al. There is more. Quad is good too. I have learned from them all. I used to give the Palestians a benefit of a doubt but after reading the debates between Xoiming Lover and Doctor Gonzo, I am actually more pro-Israeli. I don't know if that is changing my mind but my thoughts on the Palestian/Israeli conflict has shifted.

JerseyFlyer has not changed my mind about an issue but I certainly have learned from his posts. For example, he has confirmed some thoughts about such subjects as "Jane Fonda". I knew she was a traitor, but I really didn't know how much. The other day a Jane Fonda movie came on TV and I promptly switched channels and as I did, I was thinking what Hanoi Jane did to our POWs.






-- Modified on 8/20/2010 12:49:03 AM

about organic farming, and just how little space you need to do it. I'm glad he did.

On everything else, no, nobody has ever changed my mind. That's because I'm always right.

-- Modified on 8/20/2010 1:40:41 AM

1) I've softened some positions

2) I've strengthened others

Some criticisms have motivated me to perform additional investigation and research. Where previously I had only a partial justification, it became stronger. On others where things seemed black and white, they are now more gray.  

I posted the original message mainly as an attempt to get people to pause momentarily and think about how they typically react to viewpoints that oppose their own.  I was also somewhat curious to see who might take the time to respond and what their responses might be.  I figured that the majority of responses would be along the lines of, "Yes, I have changed my mind on occasion," or perhaps, "No, but I have adjusted my hard right/left stance about some issues."  I anticipated that few would actually write to say that they have never been swayed by any dissenting viewpoints here.

I believe that the vast majority of people prefer to think of themselves as open-minded.  I also believe that very few people actually are.  

Our internal constructs of our persona is carefully fabricated and maintained in an attempt to fix our place in the larger world.  After a certain age, most people view any substantive change to this construct as a threat to their own metaphysical existence, whether conscious of it or not.  We resist personal change because we are scared that we might not recognize the person in the mirror.

I am certainly not immune from this, but I do make a conscious effort to entertain the possibility of change if I can rationalize the fundamental progress that might be achieved.  Sometimes, after I have reconsidered an opinion and actually changed my mind about something, I even end up liking who I meet in the mirror a little more.

-- Modified on 8/24/2010 9:12:07 AM