Quote Originally Posted by Wind Song View Post
When I first came to this forum, I don't think it occurred to me that this is a place where people are serious about debate. I'd participated in many political forums that were nothing more than shouting matches and repetitive "going no place" conversations. I learned to match that kind of style, which was continuous ad hominem, and the nastiest person won.

I can't say I started out wanting to learn to debate, but I'm open to it now.

I have on occassion looked at logical fallacies and have been discouraged from learning to debate. I recognized most of what I was seeing in "debate" was logical fallacy.

It's true I lead with my heart over my brain. I'm not sure that will change but I do admire people who argue well. I'm fairly intelligent, but I'm no scientist, nor am I particularly skilled in logic. Philosophy bored the snot out of me in college.

I'm trained in liberal arts, and social sciences.
No one is telling you not to follow your heart, but debate using your head, and accept that sometimes, you're just going to be wrong. We've all been there on here, and we've all gotten a little too heated, because we all inherently care about we're discussing, so that's gonna happen. The key is being able to pull yourself back from it, and no when you've said your full piece on a subject. Their doesn't really have to be a winner and a loser.

There have been several times where I've walked into a debate talking about what I've seen of the oppositions position, and trying to bring across that perspective on the argument. Usually, I reserve this for when I feel a particular line of thought isn't being represented, and should be talked about.

My biggest thing is making sure not to tell people how they feel. This is probably the biggest debating no-no there is, because there is not a single person on this Earth who likes being told how they feel, and so all that gets accomplish is getting their blood up, and the debate starts to go away. It's also often used as a way to slight someone in a backhanded way, using it in a pejorative manner to evoke an emotional response.