In this Miscellaneous category, most of the threads turn to political/social/religious rants at some point. Now, I’m all for encouraging this behavior, but as a academic pursuit, I’m interested in knowing why most of us bother spending the time to hop on our soapboxes. Does anyone really believe that there’s the least chance that we’ll change someone’s mind?
I’m on the local school board, and I’ve sat in meetings where there are seven of us discussing an issue to death. We’ll take an hour or two defending our position, attacking other positions and when it’s all done, the vote is the same as if it had been taken at the start of the meeting.
Here on TR, I’ve read 000’s of posts knowing full well that everyone else reading them is either saying to themselves “Damn right” or “Another head up another ass.” I won’t single Absolutely or Maxwell out (oops – just did), but I’ve seen people’s responses to their own posts go 2 or 3 deep. Why?????
Has NeilB ever convinced Mr. Miami of anything?? Has Oz changed JD’s mind on any issue?? Has ITLobo ever made anybody think he’s not some kind of whacked out nutjob?? Again, this isn’t meant as criticism or as a rant, I just want to know if anyone’s erudition and persuasive powers here have ever changed your way of thinking?