jskains wrote:So if I want a reasoned discussion, I have to offer ideas that are similar to everyone else on the board. That's even.
JMS
No, if you want a reasoned discussion, you offer your ideas, back them up with appropriate sources, draw conclusions based on your sources, and offer your own analysis. And then you deal with the answers, and ignore the static. And there is static here. Static is allowed, because statis also deserves a voice... and occasionally static says something incredibly wise, and we all sit here slack jawed and dumbfounded.
You don't have to agree with anyone, but you can't complain when no one agrees with you either. We are just as harsh on non-LDS as we are on LDS. We deal equally harshly with any idea that lacks foundation or support. No one gets a free pass here, not me, not you, not anyone. Not even Shades, and he owns the place.
People are allowed to change their minds, their positions, their worldview here. It's an amazing place constantly in flux that has helped many people. When someone says "get help", they don't mean that as an insult. We've all required help before and some of us get help on a regular basis. No one is ever always the helper, while everyone else is the helpee. We've got some really smart people here, and we've got some really young ones, and some really wise ones, and some really funny ones, and some really confused ones, and sometimes, we are all of the above. We aren't always friends, and this isn't a halfway house for Mormons on the way out, but it's a place where very different people make an effort to gain more understanding of the way things are out in our real world.