Ignore the issue at hand a moment and let's just think about human psychology in general. If you're not aware of this, allow me to enlighten you: it's almost impossible for a person to tell another person they are wrong, especially if there exists an ideological divide between them. Let me give you an example. When I was a Teacher -- I think? -- it was time to do fast offerings. Everybody hated it. When our quorum advisor brought in the packets we rolled our eyes and complained, and we took a few of the packets but most were left remaining. A little bit later, a future bishop came into the class, and this guy in terms of personal charisma was no joke. I'll let this remain a mystery, but he was actually mentioned on SeN at one point and I was blown away. He came to the class and gave us the guilt trip of the century. He took every one of the packets that those of us had volunteered to do and said he would do them all himself. After he left, one of the guys said, "Does everyone here feel about this high?" And he gestured with his thumb and index finger closed together to make the point. Now this guy, MG, rode a motorcycle without having a license yet and was rebellious to the point that he told another bishop he was full of crap, there is no God, and he would continue to have sex with a person that this bishop personally knew. He later joined the military and went on to make a lot of money -- totally testosterone fueled self-assured individual. But even this guy was reduced to feeling like nothing due to the lecture that this other future bishop gave us.MG wrote:I may have failed in that endeavor.
It takes a supreme talent to convince another person they are wrong, especially if there exists an ideological divide. I'm a little shocked that you don't understand this given you're a career teacher. I mean, a guy in your position I'd imagine to have a stellar understanding of human nature in order to deal with middle-school kids and not take it personally. I've known a couple middle-school teachers, they are under achievers, way brighter than you'd think for the stereotype of the position, but that intelligence boost translated into just not caring. Understanding it wasn't personal and having a sense of humor about everything. So yeah, I mean, you present kind of a challenge to me in terms of reconciling your character sheet.
I'm on my third oversized shot of Jager (that's right Whiskey, if you're reading, it's way beyond your Alpha sweetness limits) and so I'm going to drone on just a little more. You have no idea how hard it is to remember what the next point was supposed to be as my +1 metabolism doesn't deal with alcohol like it should anymore. I fully understand I can't convince anyone on the ideological divide that they are wrong, and that's never been my intent, in part because I realize that rationality doesn't work and I don't care to work on my charisma and convince people because of that. Prior to my mission I took a few temp jobs. One of those jobs was working at the U of U bookstore. On the first day, I was given a printout that had been copied about sixty times titled something like, "dealing with the negative child." It was a psychological exploration of customers who were angry and how to deal with them. It was a staggering revelation because I was in the thick of reading Nibley books, preparing myself for any possible argument against the church, and it became apparent to me that my chosen path was unlikely to convince anyone. And it's crazy, because at that very job, I became acquainted with a born-again Christian guy -- long hair, played bass in a band, could barely read, talked like he was Jesus, the full stereotype -- in the breakroom who gave me my first anti-Mormon pamphlets. So now I was stuck, here was this guy with a completely childish understanding of reality, I had full confidence I could win in any argument, but yet, I knew from this stupid sheet of paper that it was hopeless!
But here's the thing, that future bishop who lectured us, no way in hell I could be him. I could know more than him for sure, not due to intellect, but because he had no curiosity about the world. Anyway, the point is, while I don't think you're in the right, I could be wrong, but even supposing you're in the right, if you're trying to troll, then hat off, you're doing great, but if you're really trying to convince somebody of something, I'm just having a hard time understanding how a middle-school teacher could be so off base about human nature. (including your relationship with hypothetical lurkers)
