Of all the things I’ve learned here at Straight Dope, maybe the most important is this: shit just doesn’t matter all that much.
I think I’m still quite passionate and blustery, but I’m feeling that changing within myself. I just don’t care anymore like I used to about whether I “win” an argument in Great Debates. Instead, I now just enjoy reading and contributing and trying a sort of walk-in-their-shoes empathy to see if I can understand a point.
Yeah, I still debate. And no, I don’t phone it in by any means. But I don’t get pissed off anymore.
One recent example was a debate in which Spiritus stopped me dead in my tracks with a compelling tableau that clearly indicated to me that I needed to re-evaluate what I was thinking. My reaction surprised me. I wasn’t horrified; I was delighted! Here was a new way to consider something that had been a stumbling block to me.
Also recently, I was in a debate about ethics, and although I made my arguments as convincingly as possible, I wasn’t angry when Hamlet didn’t agree. Right now, I’m engaged in a debate about economics (it’s about science, actually), and even though a very authoritative economist (Hawthorne) came into the thread basically to tell me that I didn’t know squat, I was not upset. I shrugged, and agreed no longer to speak of the thing using the sacred term.
When somebody makes a good point now, I just admit my error, indiscretion, ignorance, or whatever and go on. Before, every post was an Iwo Jima to me.
Pit threads don’t bother me any more. In fact, I recently invited someone to open one. Euty made some sort of remark about how he hates parodies or something, and I just shrugged and said, yeah, me too, I’m sick of them. And frankly, if I write another one and someone doesn’t like it, I’ll just move on to something else.
Yesterday, I opened an IMHO thread. I don’t think it was my first, but it was the first since I opened one desperately seeking data to bolster the point I was making in a debate. But my new thread was just asking people how they cut their steaks.
There’s a molehill hijack/argument going on about libertarianism in a Pit thread right now, and someone spoke of Libertopia. Not only did I not rant, rave, and explode, I even responded using the same word!
And lately, I’ve participated more and more in this forum where I’m learning a lot about people I didn’t know about when I stayed almost exclusively in GD.
I realize this might not seem like a big deal to most people, but those of you who’ve known me for a while know that it represents a major shift in my temperament. I’m still a Melancholy to be sure, but a milder one I must say. Maybe I’m just mellowing in my old age.
Anyway, in the words of Janis Joplin, “Thats it!”