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A positive Word On the Tone of Debate Here


Ghost of

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Recently, I've been able to get into discussions with a variety of people, among them NoCalMike and Liberty, without a great feeling of anxiety or pique.

Though the issues are often, by nature, contentious I'm not getting too upset and I think people are actually interested in debate. Yes, sometimes people still skim or misinterpret but certainly this is better than it has been. In moments that should probably be accompanied by a rumbling and splitting of the ground and flames licking the sky under an eclipsed moon, we actually find points of agreement.

:cheers:

Just remember this post later when I get mad again.

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Agreed.

I usually steered clear of Tailgate discussion beyond just lurking unless the topic was so compelling I couldn't help myself. Generally, it was because of the level of vitriol that was exchanged on both sides of each issue.

The goal of debate is to learn and one can only learn by being openminded about the opinions of one's "adversary" in the arguement at hand. If agressiveness takes over as the prevailing tone, people regress into defensive stances and very little of a productive nature results.

I think that the last few threads I've read have been extremely civil and far more inviting of late. Keep up the good work!

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Originally posted by DarkLadyRaven

True its better than on campus debates

Pro War people would shout and spit in your face.

Pro Gay Rights people- would call you all sorts of nasty things and Dump and waste School Newspapers that had anything they disagreed with in it

Are there still pro war kids left in the NRV? I thought they all left when I did ;)

If you are junior, you may have rememberd that I organized a counter protest to the Iraqi war protest 2 years ago in Blacksburg.

Fun times to have the megaphone in hand just saying what I wanted while the anti-war protestors sound equipment was not working.

It was me ranting and raving for 10 minutes, about anything from Saddam's weapons to the fact the Saddam sodomized children

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Originally posted by Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin

Recently, I've been able to get into discussions with a variety of people, among them NoCalMike and Liberty without a great feeling of anxiety or pique.

In moments that should probably be accompanied by a rumbling and splitting of the ground and flames licking the sky under an eclipsed moon, we actually find points of agreement.

:cheers:

Just remember this post later when I get mad again.

Anytime we get too angry or anxious, we should just look up in the archive in the FedEx forums for our uber-support for Patrick Ramsey, when everyone else was badmouthing him and wanted to trade him. I think you and I have been two of the most consistent Ramsey supporters since he joined the team. :cheers:

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Originally posted by NoCalMike

Anytime we get too angry or anxious, we should just look up in the archive in the FedEx forums for our uber-support for Patrick Ramsey, when everyone else was badmouthing him and wanted to trade him. I think you and I have been two of the most consistent Ramsey supporters since he joined the team. :cheers:

:laugh:

That's one reason why I felt differently about you to begin with. Now, that won't completely eliminate the occasional wisecrack from me, but I've just really been pleased of late with how things have gone in Tailgate. This doesn't mean there won't be frustration and times when we need to cool down, but if we just TALK and respond and just be more clever than emotional, we can make this place more desirable to come and discuss the issues of the day. Or porn.

I also liked your post in the Sexual Choices We Make thread. Though the idea of your workplace kind of scares me now.

:doh:

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I for one have learned so much from all of you.

I don't always agree withg some, but I can't say that it wasnt beneficial hearing opposing views.

I hope that I can live up to the positive tones of late and I humbly apologize to any that I offended (while not in jest of course!) in the past with strong posts that were adversarial.

We can all learn from the tone of Ghosts posts recently.

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Originally posted by Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin

I also liked your post in the Sexual Choices We Make thread. Though the idea of your workplace kind of scares me now.

:doh:

Well I am happy to say my current job is nothing like the places before. And you know something, I never thought of this before, but a lot of those jobs that had the enviornment I described in that thread were SWING SHIFT jobs. I wonder if there is a type of connection between what shift people work, and sexual behaivor at work. I know from experience that IN GENERAL employees can get away with a lot more on SWING and GRAVEYARD shifts because the big bosses are hardly ever there, unless some special meeting is called....hmmm.

:cool:

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Originally posted by NoCalMike

Well I am happy to say my current job is nothing like the places before. And you know something, I never thought of this before, but a lot of those jobs that had the enviornment I described in that thread were SWING SHIFT jobs. I wonder if there is a type of connection between what shift people work, and sexual behaivor at work. I know from experience that IN GENERAL employees can get away with a lot more on SWING and GRAVEYARD shifts because the big bosses are hardly ever there, unless some special meeting is called....hmmm.

:cool:

That's probably where it got the name "swing shift." It's one thing, I suppose, to fool around but cheating and being so cavalier about it? Man, if I ever found out my wife....I'm just sayin'.

:D

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When I went to work on Capitol Hill I was a “wing-nut” like most newbies. It didn’t take long to figure out how the game is played and concessions are made even with one’s political opposites. While debates are nice to watch, it usually is pure theater. Not many politicians are really vicious unless they feel they have been out-right lied to or double-crossed. When I left the Hill and joined real America again, I used my experience to educate other “wing-nuts” and emphasize the importance of civil discussion. As I was taught, and have found to be true, if you can discuss your point and not lose your temper, not resort to degrading your opponent, and not be completely inflexible when exposed to facts that you were not aware of before, you will be respected. Fail in any of these and your credibility can come into question. I love to participate in the discussions here until they get nasty and emotional. When people I work with begin discussing politics I will listen first to ascertain whether it will degrade into a “My dad can beat up your dad!” fiasco. I also won’t participate in a conversation that includes disrespecting an elected official to make them seem just a little better than a pedophile. I just won’t waste my time with such people. Common jokes are fine and as long as they are not cruel are usually quite funny. Some of the best ones I ever heard came from elected politicians about other politicians. But they were never hate-filled.

I look forward to contributing to many discussions here on ExtremeSkins!

:cheers:

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While I'll agree that the tone has changed a bit, I will say that the political name calling hasn't. I hear "liberal" ,"conservative" , "right wing" ,"left wing" , etc. thrown around here like they are insults. It seems that when someone doesn't agree, the first course of actions is to do that. "oh yeah well, all you liberal...". "these damn neo-cons...". It's kind of annoying, which is why you generally won't find me in any of the political threads debating with anyone. It's hard to put anyone completely in any of those catagories, simply because no one agrees on every matter. Just because one is a republican doesn't mean he doesn't agree with the Dems now and again.

I also rarely have a clue what anyone is talking about. I don't stay too current on political issues. :)

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Speaking as a short tempered, sarcastic, bull in a china shop, let me just say that I have been trying my best to be nice. I know I have a way of pushing peoples buttons, I don't mean to and I'm not proud of it but there it is. So let me take this moment to thank you all for putting up with me.

:cheers:

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This is actually one of the best boards I've found to talk politics. On the actual political boards, there's always a dominant doctrine and if you deviate from that you'll immediately get labeled a troll. On Extremeskins, there's people from all political spectra, and everyone can share their views - I've learned a lot hashing out arguments here. I'm of the firm belief that you don't know anything for sure until you've tried defending it to someone that vehemently disagrees with you.

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I admit I've been slacking off lately.

I'll do better next week.

In reality though, some of the deep arguments over the past 5 years or so have made me reaximine and ultimately change my position on a few things.

With very few exceptions, I enjoy the debate here ALOT.

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I try to keep things in perspective. The way I look at it, 95% of the people here would probably get along really well in person with one another. The discussions here get heated, but I think if we all saw one another personally, the disagreements and fundamental differences on things probably wouldn't be an issue or even come up.

Nick

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Originally posted by PokerPacker

i enjoy a nice debate with people competent enough to dispute me, and keep their dignity. unfortunatly, sometimes people *coughskinsfan51cough* come in and illogic thier way into getting people to leave the thread.

\

Packer,

Lets lay off SF51 some. He has a great sense of faith and deep core beliefs.

Don't begrudge him that, celebrate it!

I know we all get passionate at times and theological discussions normally tend to trend in a contentious direction.

I firmly believe that this is just a symptom oif misunderstanding one another.

If you disagree with SF51, PM him, try to have an open, honest discussion without snip[ing at one anothjer.

If you both really try and listen to each other, I think you'll at least get where the other is coming from.

:2cents:

HTTR

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