May 3, 2008 11:38:46 PM cite

Hello April, yes I would like to exchange ideas with like minded individuals in a civil dialogue, but to often this is a subject where people have strong feelings and are adamant in their beliefs. Perhaps I have gotten to the stage in life where I am just tired of arguing with other people. Too many times a discussiion has become a bit heated and I just do not have the energy to fight that hard. My biggest problem is that I place a great importance on accurate informatin and the truth, many times I have been confronted by someone quoting information that was false or incorrect, just to support their side of the argument. See my comment 'Observation' on Sept 19 '06 this was one case. In another I made a statement that all ethics are situational, and that 'Killing is not always bad' another person imediatly jumped on that and argued that killing was always morally wrong, and then tried to argue for an ethical baseline for all actions. I let the discussion end without pointing out that at every meal we have involves killing something. This other person had read Killing as murder and I would have agreed with his position on that point. However all our actions toward others are based on pre-existing conditions. Many times a discussion will start to get out of hand and I will back down to avoid bad feelings with other people. I have a friend to whom the truth is secondary to a good story, and I just do not feel the need to confront him with the truth. There is a saying 'When in the company of fools keep your own counsel'. Without meaning to sound arrogant I suppose that too often I seem to be in the company of fools. And before you bring up the obvious point, yes many statements are opinion which may not be right or wrong, but I am refering to factual data that can be verified.

by thedoc