[alstewartfan]

Best advice I've ever received came when I was 17: Never argue with an idiot! Now I'm not saying that Flowerplough is stupid, BUT closed-mindedness and unwillingness to accept any facts which challenge pre-conceived notions is almost as bad. Don't let the few get you down!! You're performing a great service here, and I've directed a few skeptical friends to this thread, b/c of your knowledge of the subject. Cordially, Bob

[RightOnline]

Thanks so much, Bob. Appreciate it.....

[flowerplough]

You're not saying that Flowerplough is stupid, BUT are saying closed-mindedness and unwillingness to accept any facts which challenge pre-conceived notions is almost as bad?

Thank you. You've performed a great service here, with that. I don't say you and ROL are stupid, either, but I will warn that the flip side of closed-mindedness and skepticism is probably gullibility and naivete.

For instance, the gullible or naive might quote Lincoln in a post here on FR, as ROL did to me: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak out and remove all doubt."- Abraham Lincoln. Small problem. The close-minded, preconceived notionizers among us are quite sure that Mr. Lincoln, if he ever so quipped, doesn't deserve credit for the origination of the sentiment, and was merely, in the popular fashion, restating Proverbs 17:28 from the King James edition of that Christian Bible with which ROL sometimes seems unfamiliar. "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."