Me, I started out at the TFP posting mainly in Politics.
I have some strong opinions that are, by the way, quite different than those I held twenty years ago. My political outlook has evolved very dramatically over the years.
After a few months on the TFP I came to realize that very few people ever change their mind on political matters and that it is a waste of time and effort to discuss politics here or anywhere else. In twenty something years of debates, discussions, arguments, and shouting matches I have never, not once, seen someone become convinced of the wrongheadedness of their position. It has never happened. Most discussions become angry shouting matches with each side squared off against the other. I could spend an hour typing a defense of a particular position, only to have it ignored as the debate raged on. The purpose in these forums isn't an exchange of ideas, but an attempt to show the other person how wrong they are. Some would call it "a pissing match."
Today I rarely venture into the Politics forum. I just don't see the point, and I lack the energy. I know where I stand, and you know where you stand, so what's the point of discussing matters that only serve to divide us? There are other things to talk about.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
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