I think there’s a discussion if we are open to it to change our own actions from the wisdom of those around us. I often think on here that we share a football team but that means we don’t share so much of everything else and in these days of only reading or listening to what you agree that is gold dust! Only if we are willing to entertain the thought that we may have things to learn and may be wrong on certain things we hold dear. Maybe it’s a naive thing to believe I’m not always right and don’t know everything. I really don’t know anymore! So many people seem so sure of everything and that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Maybe it’s a lack of self worth or confidence in me. At my best I think it’s my most useful character trait and at my worst, which is more often, I think ffs stand for something, be brave and tell people how things should be. However when I do that I find people stop listening
I agree that why I enjoy the off-topic discussions here is because there's such a variety of beliefs and ideals it's a far better place to get a more balanced view of public perception than other areas of interest where there appears to be be way more groupthink and everyone is largely on the same page. I gives me the chance to reassess what I think, hear some new thoughts and ideas and expand my own with that information creating a better overall 'answer''. We've got a variety of thoughts on Brexit, religion, politics, economics, Covid and that's really refreshing. One thing I've found surprising about this place since I joined is the number of more left wing views than I think many would expect from a football 'crowd', which you'd expect to be far more to the right. I know this is only a small sample size and chances are many of those that are more right-wing aren't on platforms like this but it's still refreshing. I know a lot of the posters who identify more with the right think this is a lefty, liberal place but in terms of numbers I reckon it's actually quite even, just the lefties amongst us are more likely to get engaged and reply more often on more subjects.
Another advantage is that you can't have people like Trump or Johnson just interjecting and not allowing you to put across your point. You can write it all out and show your workings. It's one of the things I hate about parliament is the butting in and jeering which just gets us nowhere.
I also think I'm more at ease with this format than verbal, because I can take time to think about it and edit what I'm trying to say whereas by mouth it's easy to slip up, or forget a point you want to make. I also admit I'm more belligerent in this format as when done face to face I can often see the confusion on the persons face and I either feel sorry for them and lay off cos I feel like I'm bullying them or I get exasperated and show my annoyance, which doesn't win anyone over. Here I can get frustrated, calm down then try and type a calm response.
As for the thought of being naive, not a chance. It's a sensible, mature and intelligent thing to not always believe you're right and those people that do can be dangerous, esp if they have a forceful, charismatic personality and the wrong idea.
www.theguardian.com
