Replies

Haha! You’re welcome.

In the first place, I care very much about all the FReeQs, so my goal is never to pick fights with them.

I’ve learned (the hard way) to be careful with how I phrase things because it’s easy for some people to take offense when none was intended. (NOT Bob Ireland. NOT saying he’s easily offended!)

I’ve learned that it’s always a good idea to make clear benevolent intentions when disagreeing. For me, it’s never (well maybe rarely) personal. And if I disagree with a FRiend, I definitely don’t want it to be personal. I only want it to be about the topic under discussion.

Second, in cases like Bob Ireland’s post, it was easy to be polite. I wasn’t so much disagreeing with him as I was (in my mind anyway) presenting additional ideas and trying to find out more about what he was thinking. So I definitely didn’t want that to turn into an angry argument.

Third, a friendly discussion helps me refine my arguments. If you can shoot holes in my argument, then I either need to abandon it or fix it or find better reasons to support my side of the discussion. “Because I said so” or calling people names is never a good argument. I have to confess that when people do that, my knee jerk reaction is that they are wrong. They could actually be right, but they definitely are not able to advocate for their side. They do more harm than good for their side.

You have no idea how often I am tempted - out of sheer frustration - to just tell liberals that they are idiots. I try very hard not to give in to that. Fortunately here on the Q threads, aside from a few trolls, we have a much higher IQ level. So it’s easier to use reason and logic. (I often engage trolls via PM in a polite way. They are usually a lot less troll-ish when you do that. Sometimes they come around. Other times they just go away.)

Fourth, I definitely want to hear the other side(s) of the argument. And more than that, I want to know when I’m wrong! Like most people, I hate to be wrong! But if I am, I want to find out so I can correct my ignorance. I like to learn things! :-)

Sometimes it’s a matter of opinion more than right/wrong. In those cases, I can be just as stubborn as the next guy (maybe more so) in sticking to my opinion. But I still like to learn what the other side is thinking and why they think that.

Anyway, thanks for noticing. I hope more of us will make the extra effort to be polite. I think we are in a critical time for THE PLAN. We need to stick together. It’s going to be an exciting, frustrating, happy, difficult, confusing, enlightening time. All of those things jerking around our emotions will make it easy/tempting to lash out - even at FRiends. If we can keep our emotions and our egos in check, we’ll do a better job of sticking together. We don’t have to all agree with everything in lockstep. (We’re not lefties, fer cryin’ out loud!) But if we can stay united on the big points, support Q, support Trump, it will help our cause and maybe bring others in as well.

WWG1WGA