Here at the SDMB, has anyone ever made a counterpoint on an issue you felt vehemently for or against which changed your mind on an issue?
For instance, did you wake up a pro-lifer and go to bed a newbie pro-choicer just because of something you read that day in Great Debates?
Or is all we write falling on closed, long-since-decided minds?
In GD, I origanlly argued that the McDonalds burn lady was just an idiot and had no case. Through the arguments presented to me, I came to the conclusion she was an idiot, but did actually have a valid case.
I had more or less the same change of mind about the McDonalds lady.
Also, points that gun-rights advocates on this board have made have caused me to reassess where I stand, although think the ultimate change in my positions will wind up being closer to marginal than fundamental.
While it wasn’t as a result of anything said here, I’ve changed my views on a number of things in the past several years in response to persuasive writing, from free trade to the death penalty. Such changes of opinion have generally happened slowly - not surprising, since I’m in my 40s - unless I’ve been confronted with substantial evidence that I hadn’t been faced with before.
Only when the facts outweigh my preconceptions. Or new facts play in.
It happens once and a while but I usually try to avoid serious emotional issues (IE Religion or Abortion) Unless I’m spoiling for a fight.
On the issue of whether or not there is such a thing as race I have gone from “Of course there is” to “Hmmm… maybe not”.
Sorry, I will apologize in advance. Smart ass comment coming. I just have to do it.
The image that came to mind when I saw the thread title was of one person sitting in a chair, the top his head flipped back like the battery cover on a camera, and two other guys busily disconnecting the old brain while the new one lies in a container on a table waiting to be installed.
Terribly sorry.
We now continue with our regularly scheduled serious discussion.
Yes. Not on abortion, but I’d agree that some of the gun control debates have really changed my thinking about the efficacy of gun control laws. Not the threads where people get all hysterical and emotional, but the ones where smart, classy, well-informed posters really debate these issues.
There have been plenty of other threads and topics where other Dopers have made me see a side to an issue that I hadn’t considered. I love when that happens. I’m a stodgy old cuss, but I’m not too set in my ways to have my mind changed, and I respect that other people have the ability to apply their minds to a thorny issues in ways I haven’t come up with. And then they write about it in a way that opens my eyes. It’s one of the major appeals of the SDMB.
I wouldn’t say “changed my mind” as much as “helped me to be more open-minded” regarding certain things.
Specifically, evolution and abortion. Growing up a fundamental Christian (I do not consider myself a “fundie” anymore), I’m sure you know where I stood on these issues.
As it relates to evolution, I think the presentation of ideas from lucent, logical Christians have helped me to see that: evolution does not equal “evil, God-less way of thinking”; that it’s possible that God <gasp!> used evolution to create the world and all we know; that I wasn’t “backsliding” or less Christian for believing this. Let me tell you, folks, its been a wild ride these past two years. I don’t mean to get all spiritual and mushy on you, but I really feel like the Lord has used the Board to help tear down a lot of walls or blockades in my thinking, opening up my <past tense> very narrow mind.
On abortion, I guess I just see the other side’s POV much more clearly. I still believe it’s the killing of a human being, but I think I understand why some people do it (or are forced to do it through lack of options) and the struggle that remains in identifiying that “point of becoming human”. I don’t have an answer for that last one either. I’m not sure I can say that I feel it’s at the point of conception, but when…??? I can say that I have come to believe that it is an issue of personal decision, one that is very difficult to legislate justly (you notice I didn’t say fairly).
I used to think that the Darwin Fish stickers were funny. Then I read some post in a pit thread where some poster (for got who) made the point that it lacks originality. The “Darwin People” stole, if you will, the Jesus Fish design and bastardized it for their own purposes. Now I don’t like the Darwin Fish. In fact, I’m kind of down on any “stolen and reworked” kind of thing. Except some darn funny T-shirts.
Yep - I got my sweet hiney kicked in a discussion about the legitimacy of Ebonics. The dynamic duo of Lamia and Collounsbury set me straight.
And while I’m pretty open-minded as a rule, reading discussions here have opened my eyes to the 359 sides of every issue - intricacies I’d never considered before.
Me likey here.