A comment. "something so bad about adding the IMHO" I do put forth my opinion when I speak, unless I am quoting someone's opinion verbatim. Even then my interpretation and idea attached to the other opinion is my opinion. Especially, on a forum such as this where the poster's name is prominently displayed with their opinion, the IMHO could be interpreted as an edict of ones opinion being superior.
peace & Love Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 12:12:11 -0400 Subject: [Mind's Eye] Re: I am right and you are wrong From: [email protected] To: [email protected] First, fantastic post, which did well to question the nature of argument. Second, dialectic pursuits often do challenge us to a. assume a position of correctness, and b. challenge an opposing position vigorously. Often, those minute details you mentioned are exactly why an opposing position is incorrect. It truly can make all the difference in the world. Third, arrogance has no place in dialectics. One will always be unequivocally wrong at some point, for which I reserve my favorite phrase, Damitol. :) I like to think that the Minds Eye has less of the problems you mention than various other forums. Fourth, is there really something so bad about adding the IMHO on to posts? I throw those out there frequently. I often like to have the disclaimer on positional statements which I know are not as fully formed and supported as my more axiomatic positions. On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 7:03 PM, BB47 <[email protected]> wrote: You know what I noticed about people? We all think we are “right.” Every damn one of us. Lucky for you , the statements I just made are partially wrong, so don’t take all this too seriously, but I am going to say it all anyway, and I am going to present everything I say in a tone that sounds like I believe I am right and that I know what I am talking about. (Why do I do that?) Why do you do that? Anyway, everywhere on the planet people are behaving this way, from the smartest to the dumbest. I would say 90% of all people who post on an Internet forum claim they are absolutely correct about what they are telling you. One hundred percent of them are wrong about one thing or another, and so is my ridiculous estimate of 90%. (Don’t try and look it up, it will be wrong or distorted too) The smartest , most well informed people are wrong more than they might imagine, as they would find out if they had access all of the bonafide correct information in the world right in front of them, which of course is impossible, because it doesn’t exist. At least not in absolute form. But this neither occurs to them nor is any cause for pause. They speak to others about their information and facts as if they are true. The 10% remaining believe they are idiots, so they don’t say too much. Now when the smartest people are wrong about something the idiots believe it, and now they are wrong too. And worse, they are emboldened. They now think they have some correct information to spread around. It is a vicious circle. Is it any wonder why people can’t get along? The human race is a disaster. Thank god I am wrong about that. Oh sure, there are people who are actually “right” on the surface of it, but the more you dig, the wronger they get. Just like the word “wronger” (it is a very shallow dig with me, there is a plus side to all this) Let’s say a person reads a book by an expert. They now feel that they too are an expert, but they didn’t really absorb the entire book. They think they did, but they didn’t. If they were that smart or that informed they would have written the book instead of reading it. You know that thing about telling ten people a story? Well now this “book report” will be passed down to the next person, slightly or massively distorted, and anybody who didn’t read it for themselves? Well they might buy into the wrong interpretation., carry around those wrong facts, telling people that it is true, things that the expert didn’t even get right! Even that original “expert” will be discredited by the next expert, who will shred that book, tear it apart, and claim to be right about it. Now, the smart person poster who read the first book? And told you how wrong you were because of the book he read? Well he too has dropped that first book as “rubbish” now in favor of the new author, who gets some things wrong as well. But does he apologize? Hell no, people like that never apologize. They are never wrong about anything. And why is it that people , when they are right, have to be such jerks about it? Too many people do that. “not only are you wrong, but here is a searing insult to go with it to really make it sting” (Why in the hell do I do that?) Why do you? The smartest people can be the meanest. And what does that say about their character? Do the well informed get to get away with it? Is knowledge more valued than character around here? Not in my book, maybe in yours. Oh, there are the people with actual wisdom, that don’t do these nasty things, but there are so few of those. They just say wise things, because they think they are right too, some of which is wrong. Just a smaller percentage is all. The world is a very complex place and it might not be possible to be totally correct and be a human being.. So what do we do? Well I am going to set a new standard, I am going to be wrong all the time. Just to try it out and set an example. Like right there, see how easy that was? There is only one thing wrong with “wrong.” (which I feel is an improvement) but naturally none of this is correct. You could tear it apart, like a dog with a paper towel roll, but then you would be proving my point by setting examples of how right you need to be before everyone’s eyes! Go ahead, make my day. There are so many smug, arrogant people in the world! It is simply astounding. Just listen to us! Can’t you hear it? They all think they are right, or have the golden truth, the mystical knowledge, and the pure wisdom to offer us; the less fortunate. Not only that, but we often have it beaten into us by a know-it-all with a meat cleaver. Well, they are all wrong about something. But the most dangerous thing is that the smarter you think you are, the less you are likely to admit being wrong. Look around, make a count. I rest my case. But nobody likes being wrong. It is the single most powerful driving force of all human beings if I am not mistaken, which of course I am. Why do we read? To become more righteous of course! We want to be smart. So we can tell other people about stuff and correct them when they are wrong! Show them how smart we are! What other possible reason is there? (there are several….and I am wrong about that point in many other ways too, but that does not stop me, nor you from this drive to get smarter and “informed” so you can tell more people they are wrong) Only the idiots admit being wrong. And only because they are quickly pounded into submission by the more informed, with a snooty tone that only the smug can deliver, but the idiots can’t wait until they have something that they are right about so they can pound that nail in the head of somebody beneath them. Look at most any post in any forum and tell me what you see. I see somebody who thinks they are right, and the other is wrong. It is virtually every single post. (there I go again!) Well that obviously can’t be true, because most of the posts oppose each other! And even if they are not saying they are right, they are offering their opinions of which they are “selling” as right. Like I do. What pompous, arrogant, smug jerks we all are. Each and every one of us. Especially me, for writing a post like this. This is one hard to top, but keep reading, it gets even better. If people were really honest, they would turn their heads from their computer screens right now and puke their guts out in self disgust in light of this horrible realization. But of course none of you will. Which proves my point with such indisputable precision that it can’t be wrong, even though it clearly is. The intellectuals have already stopped reading this post or discarded everything said in it as being drivel, and are composing their wicked reply as you read, further proving my point. You know what would be ironic? If a so often wrong person like myself could teach a valuable lesson to the people who think they are right all the time. Wouldn’t that be great? But of course that won’t happen . This post will be forgotten within minutes and everyone will go back to business as usual, being their pompous, arrogant selves, and that strengthens my points even more, and proves how everybody desperately wants and needs to be right , like the vengeful little children we are , had these things I am saying right now not been so ill conceived, so wholly devoid of logic and reason, and written with such unbelievable ignorance and poor taste.. But you will be the first to point that out. Don’t lie, you know you want to! What you don’t know is “why” you really want do it. You don’t want to think about that. It is ugly. You could never face such a disgusting and petty truth about yourselves. Unless of course you rationalize it away, which you are experts at! You are incapable of complete honesty, just as much as you are not in possession of the complete and absolute truth. Having said that, you folks always come up with something I had not thought of. An angle I was completely blind to. And I am sure that will be the case here. God how I hate being wrong. From your responses and posts, it looks like you don’t care for it either. The smarter you are, the less honest you become. I am probably lying right there, but it doesn’t come close to those who rarely if ever admit to being wrong, which is 90% of you. (Give or take, or I am not even close, but who cares?) You care! You haughty, nit- picking, minute error correcting, I have to point that out to you in front of everybody, bastards! Like that is so important. (Actually it is, in some cases it can be helpful and informative. I am just being deliberately obnoxious, which I find “fun”) These so called smart people, who have built their entire person on being right, have built castle walls made of “delusion of grandeur” all around them. They have become experts because they have read the experts. They will never be reached again, not on an honest human level, locked within their own prison walls, and they will not hear my call that wanting to be right all the time, at any cost, is being a jerk, like I am being right now. Ironically, these are the very same people that voice such concern for the poor, the less gifted, the “suffering”, the mentally challenged or the underprivileged. That is until they hear one of those people’s opinions! Then they mentally trash and flog the poor person and his pathetic opinion worse than society ever did, in public, and you enjoy it. Like some megalomaniac dictator flogging someone in the public square. What does that say about you and the lofty position you occupy as the “informed?” Does anybody else see the pure beauty of all this? Of course you don’t, for if you did, you would never post your arrogant words again. You would even be able to SPEAK again. There would be nothing for you to say!. But you will, which only proves my point. It would make me sick if I believed I was right about any of this, but I am only nauseated, further proving my point. There is no possible reply to this post without proving my point completely correct by the examples you will inevitably give. I would be able to point it out so easily, from so many different angles, so take your best shot . That is until I read in horror what you come up with, which I obviously completely missed, and never thought of (Hah! …..Sigh) So what is the solution? Do we want a board filled with nothing but “I agree completely!” or with every single point prefaced with “I am not saying I am right or anything, but” or the worst possible…. “I don’t have anything to say?” Of course not! (what was I thinking there?) Perhaps we need to find a balance. (how many of us can pull that off?) Some will, the rest may never. I hope I can pull it off. We shall see. If you don’t agree with me, that is perfectly OK, I would like to hear about it. Don’t worry, I won’t use this stuff against you. That would be mean, and that would demonstrate my hypocrisy and would show a lack of character. Unless you really abuse me. Then I am going after you, with stuff like this. I am not going to sit back and let some egghead with with a hammer abuse me anymore. Being right is not all that is it cracked up to be. Being wrong is not that horrible. There are way worse things…like never admitting it. _________________________________________________________________ With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos. http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/windows/windowslive/products/photo-gallery-edit.aspx --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
