The Nuts Are Running The Squirrel House

I was reading through and participating in the comments of another person’s blog post that dealt with political issues, and this is what I learned from the comments:

1. If Joe doesn’t agree with you, then Joe is obviously getting his information from an inferior source.

2. You can twist almost anything to say what you want it to say.

3. If you want an easy way out of defending your viewpoint, just tell the other person to stop talking about the problem and find a solution.

4. Talking about a problem can help find a solution.

5. If someone resorts to name-calling, they probably have a weak defense for their viewpoint.

6. Many people are quick to jump to illogical, far fetched conclusions that support their view that your opinion is crazy.  Example:

Joe:  I don’t think we really handled this war the right way.
Sam:  Oh, so you WANT terrorists to kill your family.

7.  Using blanket or polarized statements like “All Republicans…” or “All Democrats…” takes away from the believability of what you are saying.

8. Telltale signs that someone doesn’t have a sustainable viewpoint:

-They accuse you of being unpatriotic if your view doesn’t fall in with the mainstream
-They tell you that you shouldn’t be bringing up things like this “because there’s a war going on”
-Too many references to 9/11

9.  Based on the 2 sentences you write in someone’s comments, other people will assume they know you, your personality, and your education about the topic.

10. You are not going to change anyone’s mind with a post.  But if you say it nicely and present your viewpoint respectfully, it will give people something to think about.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS Feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.