I did. The vast majority of what you post is political/religious in nature. Almost all of it. Don’t try to tell me otherwise because it’s bogus.
This would be tiresome coming from anybody, but since you are so young, it comes off as even more annoying because, let’s face it, you have lived a sheltered life. You’re not worldly. You don’t really have any frame of reference for international politics.
I’m not as against you as some other posters are, and at times I have been overly harsh or provocative with you, I admit. I want to help you become a better poster here if you’d just listen to my advice.
That’s the stated goal, to fight ignorance, but I don’t look at it that way because it frames it as combative. It’s a virtual community where people share opinions and experiences, is how I see it. Try to share things that you think others will find interesting, amusing or thoughtful - not just your political opinions.
No it isn’t. It’s a general interest message board that grew out of a syndicated newspaper column. The Straight Dope may be about fighting ignorance, but the board itself isn’t, and the people that try to pretend it is are either delusional, or want it to be true so they can pretend to be of some elite intellectual society.
Er… I agree with the 2nd sentence. But hey… look at the top of the screen. It says “Fighting Ignorance” – that’s our mission statement. We don’t lock people out who do other things, but other things aren’t the primary purpose of this board. Heck, turning a buck isn’t even top on the list. The charge of elitism is of course laughable: this is a public message board and even dues are optional.
Count me in among those who do nothing but post my dogmatic political and religious opinions.
More generally, I held roughly the same political alignment as Qin when I was 13-14, though perhaps my church was somewhat less fundamentalist than his. Not that Qin is a pure fundi: IIRC, his church is mainline Lutheran. I don’t find his POV to be exceptional, and his opinionated stance seems fairly age-typical. Meaning, I don’t get too bent out of shape about all this. Trust me, there are a lot of lunk-headed Americans out there. On a positive note, Qin’s mastery of the written word seems to me to be much better than that of a typical 13-14 year old.
Perhaps. At this message board it’s acceptable to demand a proper argument: it’s what sets it apart from places where any and every opinion is considered legitimate. And I find the casual internet research here to be diverting.
This is perhaps the crux of it, QSH, that with the best of intentions you are still very young and untried, and your opinions are still unearnt, they have been acquired secondhand and wholesale from reading that you already agree with. You are dogmatic about things that you have really had no relevant exposure to except in your reading, and that combination of callowness and bumptiousness irritates people. There is no sin in being naive and opinionated, we all were at some point, but if you want to develop views that are rooted in something firm to the point where people are willing to take them seriously, you need to listen as well as ask, and be prepared to learn. Good luck.
I find Qin Shi Huangdi annoying as hell, and tend to ignore his threads, but i’m not sure what your critique is here.
My own “frame of reference for international politics” is probably not much different from his. I read books and newspapers and magazines; i watch the news; i talk with other people. I wasn’t present at Bretton-Woods; i didn’t sit in at Camp David; i’ve never attended a G8 meeting; i can’t even recall the last time i was asked my opinion on a major foreign policy decision by the Obama administration.
I recognize that we become more worldly and hopefully sophisticated in our analysis as we get older, but for the majority of the population, their “frame of reference for international politics” is generally drawn from rather vicarious experiences, rather than from direct participation in the big events.
Jesus fucking Christ. This place has got to be a troll’s wet dream.
I can’t be the only one here that sees obvious trolls and blocks them almost immediately, can I?
He may be a “mild” troll but when it comes to trolling, being mild will allow you stay somewhere for a much longer period of time to do whatever it is you’re there to do. And in Curtis’s case, spout ultra conservative bullshit with the defense of being only 14.
Qin’s smugness can be a bit annoying sometimes and his habit of starting a GD or entering a GD with a comment and never darkening its door again is really annoying. If you want to start a thread on a controversial topic, go for it, but I think it’s bad form to ignore the thread thereafter.
Well, you can get a better frame of reference by taking some college courses. Qin exhibits some classic mistakes of the young and the autodidact. A key one is being overly quick & eager to form a conclusion. As an antidote, he might try reading The Economist. A good essay will give a definitive point of view, while still giving the reader enough information and respect so that they could form a differing conclusion, should they weigh the evidence different than the author. A good writer will anticipate some of the objections made by the reader, and address them in some way, as honestly as he can. This practice tends to water down one’s conclusions somewhat, but in the end the argument is stronger and the author appears better.
Analysts weigh evidence. Propagandists pretend that it all points in the same direction. Ideologues can’t tell the difference.
For what it’s worth Qin, I don’t have a problem with you. I disagree with most of what Qin says, but I’ve never had a particular problem with the fact that he wants to say it. I don’t find him to be particularly rude.
My problem with him (such as it is) is his lack of participation in threads he starts. Oh sure, he comes back to the occasional thread but it’s almost never to address issues directly that have brought up. And he rarely address’ direct question asked of him regarding the topic at hand.
I don’t believe he’s a troll and I do believe he’s young.
**Qin Shi ** strikes me as a poster boy against Home Schooling. You are home schooled aren’t you?
The preference for interaction with adults and the social ineptness is obvious. I deal with young people like you in a professional way each day. There are some basic inter-personal skills that seem to be lacking as a result of not enough interaction with a diverse group of people. If not home schooled then you are very sheltered.
I like you Qin and hope well for you, but I do think some of the answers you seek would be better found off-board.
He reports that he is not homeschooled, and once told us what school he attends (it was removed by a mod as inappropriately revealing information for a minor to post here).
