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A thought on disagreement
Why do people disagree? Or, rather, why do they think they do?
I was ranting to Tigerlily earlier (as she graciously puts up with my rants) about a discussion I saw where the liberal side was saying X and the conservative side's reaction was "you're all just delusional". In my years of debates and discussions, in general, I've seen more "you think X because of Y" from the liberal sides and more "you're just delusional" from the conservative sides. Now, that "you think X because of Y" can easily devolve into ad hominem attacks, and often does, people as often say "because you're X quality and thus can't understand" (which isn't good) as "because you haven't experienced this" (which can be useful), but it still seems to me to not be quite the discussion-ender "you're just crazy" is. When talking about personal experiences it's hard to argue with "you're just delusional" with anyhing other than "am not!"
Still, I've definetely seen both on both sides. (Insert disclaimer here about the oversimplifiation of reducing a world of debates to two sides.) And I am reminded, once again, to consider why my opponents think as they do, to not let myself dismiss them as loonies, regardless of whether or not they extend me the same courtesy.
Of course, if on consideration they do turn out to be loonies, well, there is that.
I was ranting to Tigerlily earlier (as she graciously puts up with my rants) about a discussion I saw where the liberal side was saying X and the conservative side's reaction was "you're all just delusional". In my years of debates and discussions, in general, I've seen more "you think X because of Y" from the liberal sides and more "you're just delusional" from the conservative sides. Now, that "you think X because of Y" can easily devolve into ad hominem attacks, and often does, people as often say "because you're X quality and thus can't understand" (which isn't good) as "because you haven't experienced this" (which can be useful), but it still seems to me to not be quite the discussion-ender "you're just crazy" is. When talking about personal experiences it's hard to argue with "you're just delusional" with anyhing other than "am not!"
Still, I've definetely seen both on both sides. (Insert disclaimer here about the oversimplifiation of reducing a world of debates to two sides.) And I am reminded, once again, to consider why my opponents think as they do, to not let myself dismiss them as loonies, regardless of whether or not they extend me the same courtesy.
Of course, if on consideration they do turn out to be loonies, well, there is that.