On other boards (and perhaps here) every now and then somebody dismisses a hot discussion as being “only the internet, no-one listens or changes their mind, same old etc…” Others then agree or the conversation just dies.
I find this nihilist perspective alarming and dispiriting. Hopefully we are all open and able to learn every day of our lives. That is wisdom.
I have modified my opinions and thoughts quite often in recent years after reflecting upon information gained on sites such as this, as well as blogs, and intelligent journalism.
Anyone else or do your views harden as you appreciate how many doofuses have access to computers.
It’s rare, given the number of doofuses on the Internet, but I have modified my stance on a few issues based on debates here. Off the top of my head I can say that I now have a more relaxed view on handgun ownership and a higher degree of support for hate-crime legislation following debates on the subject where the people on the other side have made cogent, coherent and reasonable arguments in favor of their views and against my own.
Of course, the astronomically larger number of debates in which the participants think that “I’m right, you’re a poopyhead, neener neener neener” is a compelling argument means that such shifts of viewpoint are passingly few.
Our very own Bricker once made me very seriously re-evaluate a personal belief that I held. I didn’t change that belief but because of something he’d posted here I really had to relook it in my mind.
I think there have been a few times I wandered into a thread with what I thought were facts only to discover that I was factually very wrong.
It doesn’t happen often - but it does happen. I’ve changed numerous beliefs because of internet discussions which prompted me to do more research. People have also credited me with changing their beliefs (two or three people). Granted, the ‘exchange rate’ seems to work out to something like one person having a radically changed belief every two years, but it does happen.
I know that the intrawebs played a factor of my deconversion from Christianity.
I don’t see much of a difference between Internet forums and real life. People have to be willing to change their mind before they’ll change. They don’t change it just because you announce Universal Truth.
If anything is different, it’s that the people willing to change their minds are often the ones reading rather than posting. Even a person who starts and thread and asks a question is often doing so just to have a chance to “win” an argument of their own devising. Real life discussions are hard to lurk in - we call that eavesdropping, normally.
A formal debate is about the only non-Internet venue where we expect people to listen in on someone else’s conversation, and debates might be a good model for Internet discussions. The people doing the debating never get halfway through and then say “You know… I’ve been wrong all my life. You win.” The people listening are the ones who are presumably changing their minds but they rarely make any contribution to the debate.
Most of the debates are complex issues with valid points on all sides, so it’s probably not likely that there is a complete switch from one point of view to another - but for me there is frequently a realization that there are things I hadn’t considered and they get logged away as valid points.
I recall an article on Ars Technica about a company that was proposing a service in a band next to the GPS band that would interfere with GPS receivers and claiming that they should be allowed to do so because it’s not their fault that so many GPS receivers were faulty and picked up out-of-band signals.
At the end of article I was totally on the side of the company, but after reading the comments I was totally against them, all because of information revealed in the comments section after the article.
While it always amazes me how many morons there are in any given crowd (or thread) I’ve found that several times instead of being the all knowing and all wise sage that I think I am, in fact I was the moron.
Have learned a great deal on SMDB and other boards. Toss out the most esoteric or oddball question and usually get an answer within a short time from someone who actually know what they’re talking about.
I’m not sure I can say that I changed my beliefs because of a specific internet discussion, the major belief shifts I’ve had were more of a combination of a lot of things rather than a single interaction. I’ve certainly changed a lot of stances, politically, religiously, philosophically, whatever that were things I’ve discussed on the internet, but I can’t peg any one debate or person or even a set of them that I could say changed my mind. At the same time, though, I’ve had some situations where the discussions very well sured up how I felt, even if a little shaky before that.
(I was a rabid, hate-filled anti-Christian atheist. A very patient Christian gentleman took the time and effort to talk me out of it. I’m still an atheist, but he healed me of the hate. I also used to take a very strong gun-control line, and debates on BBSs like this one helped me modify and moderate that, too.)
We – all of us – would do well to listen to Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”
Several times. Almost always in debates I was reading, as opposed to participating in, though. If I’m participating in a major way, it’s usually because I’m familiar with the issues being discussed, and already know the general arguments against whatever I’m proposing.
Yes. One notable example (for me) was to declaw or not declaw a cat. I had no idea what it really entailed until I came here. I didn’t own a cat at the time, (and hadn’t since childhood, except for a couple of rescues I fostered), but I’m glad I’d been re-educated on that by the time I did get a cat of my own.
A couple of you raise a point which underlies my own board/forum philosophy. There are many more readers than posters and if readers can be stimulated to reconsider their own ideas, then that is healthy for us as a society.
I’m a lawyer and have spent my career learning (oh so slowly) how to persuade people, how to present differing points of view. One of the keys is respect the other person and allow them room to adapt their thinking without feeling as though they have lost.
Like Fir na tine I too have entered discussions thinking I knew it all, only to retire much humbled. Nowadays I’m upfront and concede the argument. That’s harder than it sounds.
