The real facts.

[sixdogsmom]

Yes, yes and YES!!!! Old fashioned civility is the name of the game and really means a lot! It has always been a fact that ideas become lost when cussin and insults come to the forefront. You really cannot be persuaded to even consider an idea when it is presented with insults and curse words concerning your own ideas. Silly me, I thought I was alone or nearly so with this attitude.

[Diane Amberg]

You are not alone!!!!

[Wilma]

That makes three of us.  You, Diane and me.

[Varmit]

You guys are so right...it is always better to insult someone on the sly, or behind their back on a different thread. Right?

[Diane Amberg]

Huh? If I have ever actually insulted anyone I apoligise. I might not agree with someone, but I certainly don't mean to insult anyone as part of the process.

[Catwoman]

You guys are so right...it is always better to insult someone on the sly, or behind their back on a different thread. Right?

Since when is keeping your cutting remarks to yourself insulting someone?  If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all (don't we remember some parents making this statement?).  There is a marked difference between presenting facts (and discussing those facts in a civil manner) and making broad, sweeping statements that are good for very little other than angering others.  I believe the term in use here would be diplomacy.  I do not make the claim of being able to be consistently diplomatic...However, when I know that my firmly held beliefs run contrary to what I am reading in a thread, I keep those beliefs to myself and allow others the comfort of not having to be confronted with something that is not going to make one bit of difference in either their beliefs or their daily way of life.  I happen to believe that my rights END where other people's rights begin.  There is no infinitely expanding edge to my rights, much as I would like to believe otherwise.  I know I sound odd, in the age of limitless entitlement...But I also know that basic thought-out civility is the one of the few things that differentiate us from the animals that surround us.  Now...let the screaming begin! lol

[Varmit]

Cat, I was talking about cutting remarks that have not been kept in check.

Since when is keeping your cutting remarks to yourself insulting someone? 

I was talking about comments that weren't kept unchecked.

There is a marked difference between presenting facts (and discussing those facts in a civil manner) and making broad, sweeping statements that are good for very little other than angering others. 

You mean like "goading" people?

[However, when I know that my firmly held beliefs run contrary to what I am reading in a thread, I keep those beliefs to myself and allow others the comfort of not having to be confronted with something that is not going to make one bit of difference in either their beliefs or their daily way of life. 

Then what is the purpose of disscusion or debate if it only involves people with a like mind.  Seem kinda "narrow" to me.

As for excrising my rights, I will do so wether or not other folks like it or not.  Thats why they are called Rights, they cannot be taken away just because others might not agree it.

[Catwoman]

I have absolutely no problem with scholarly, intellectual discourse between two individuals who have the ability to agree to disagree in an adult manner.  There is nothing narrow in that scope...Some of the greatest minds in the world, who have nothing more in common than the shared oxygen in the room, have been able to think their way through world-impacting situations using that very method.

As for exercising your rights, you're entirely within your rights to do so...I just simply was advocating a less egocentric way of approaching things...(uh, point of clarification...i.e. letting your care for others be greater than your care for yourself...the term has nothing to do with being egotistical).  The point of a forum to let all sides be heard...I was merely agreeing with David that there is a need for civility in the practice of that activity.  Narrow?  I don't think so...Civilization has allowed the hominids to evolve beyond clubbing each other over the head for having different views.  There are plenty of socially acceptable ways to present your views and beliefs. 

[Wilma]

And once you have presented them, what is the purpose of repeating them and repeating and repeating?

[Varmit]

Simply put wilma, I like to win.