As a rough guess at this moment, I’m thinking there must have been at least 20 threads over the 11+ years I’ve been coming here that have caused me to reevaluate my thoughts on various subjects to the point of if not changing, then at least heavily modifying, my attitude and/or opinion on the issue(s).
At this moment I can’t think of one specific example!
Maybe if you mention some that have affected you that way I can recover my memories of such things.
In the same way, there have been some topics that were so “out of left field” that I was amazed I had never even considered such stuff. Again, no specifics.
When these things happen it rekindles my faith in this message board and keeps me coming back for the eventual fix that I know will happen again.
If you want to use this thread just to make your own comments, that’s fine by me. But I’d really like to revisit those special threads if I can think of where they were/are.
Several smackdowns by much more intelligent and responsible Dopers have modified my thoughts on the West’s relationship with the Muslim world. First off, I learned that there is no monolithic “Muslim world” anymore than there is a monolithic “Western world.”
I’ve also gone from thinking the works of Paul Verhoeven were superficial claptrap to thinking they are blatant acts of pure Evil thanks to the efforts of certain un-named Dopers as well.
Just recently, the discussion and poll about the wisdom of bringing the doctor infected with Ebola to Emory caused me to rethink my clearly uninformed opinion.
I used to enjoy the recreational outrage of “How on earth could they have let that person go free / off so light!?!” that would sometimes show up on these boards. But once, Oakminster I believe, very patiently explained (probably again) to us the limitations that are imposed on the judge and juries. Also, he explained how a good attorney had to take certain steps to ensure that their client was getting the best possible defense, as we’d all want. Now, whenever I see threads like that, I temper my opinions through that filter and often find that my knee-jerk reaction is simply emotional bullshit. It makes treacly disappointing and difficult cases (like Casey Anthony) slightly more understandable. I still appreciate the insight.
Can’t think of any, but there’s been a few threads where my opinion did a complete 360 – generally when someone with a persuasive argument turns out to be a trollish jerk.
The endless Zimmerman/Martin discussions come to mind.
Una Persson’s “Ask the Transsexual Woman” thread. While I wasn’t rabidly anti-transgender before reading it, it changed my position from not caring/being slightly skeptical to truly believing that a portion of the population is assigned the wrong gender at birth. It also opened my eyes to the incredible amount of bigotry, abuse, and general horribleness that transsexuals face on a day-to-day basis.
Not me! I carefully only read comments from people who agree with me! Anyone else goes on the ignore list.
Just kidding.
I think laws concerning restrictions on guns. I would (still) love to magically make all guns disappear, but the realities of the situation makes it a lot more messy. I had a knee-jerk reaction which is more nuanced now.
I also agree with Octarine’s comments on Una’s threads.
On a sort-of lighter note, I constantly curse Dissonance, for pointing out that Hitler would not have been Hitler if he hadn’t have gone after the Soviets, forever ruining my alternative scenarios for how WWII could have gone. Damn you!
AFAIU, it can be done to gain speed, or it can be done to lose speed. Depending on how you approach the planet and whether the planet is moving toward or away from the spacecraft at the time.
Aw crap, this just shows why it’s an ongoing mission to fight ignorance.
Maybe I misremembered the conclusion to this one. It made sense to me at the time…
ETA: Ah, it seems the important distinction is whether we’re talking speed relative to the planet or relative to the sun. The latter changes as a result of a slingshot, the former doesn’t.
I once posted a pissy thread about going out to a birthday dinner where the hosts announced they were picking up the full cheque. I protested that this was setting a precedent where everyone would feel obliged to do this in the future. I was told in no uncertain terms by the Doper community that I was being rude and should just accept their offer in good grace. They were right, I was wrong.
The current Ebola thread - my knee-jerk reaction was hell no, the infected Americans should not be brought back here - but that was based on my ignorance.
There have been other instances, but nothing major that I can recall. I did post a pissy thread about a situation I was having with neighbors once, and a couple of pages of responses later, I’d reversed my recreational outrage and was no longer pissed off.
And some of your posts in particular here have made me do at least a hard reevaluation of my stance of the death penalty. Not a 180 by any means but maybe a 90 degree turn. I’m no longer 100% against the death penalty because of some of the things you’ve typed here…
Agreed. Bricker has many times caused me to reevaluate my first reaction on issues and if not always change my mind, at least understand that it’s larger and more complex than I had originally considered.
The current Israel/Palestine threads in this forum and GD changed my opinion from “why is Israel killing civilians” to “why is Hamas pursuing a strategy that results in its citizens being killed”. I particular remember some well-argued posts by Malthus, among others. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am pro-Israeli, but at least I understand the issues a bit better and can see why Israel has carried out some of the actions it has.
