No More Opinions

No insults taken here!!

If Ann Colter is your paragon of truth then I'm sure this will be a better place if you keep your mouth shut

I personally value folks who question my thinking with alternate viewpoints. Randonee is a good example of someone who clearly has different takes than me on some policy issues, but while I may disagree with him on some topics, I've generally appreciated his challenging discussion on topics like global warming, inlcuding his raising the question of whether some of his "opponents" might be hypocritical in some of their energy consumption choices. I never felt that he was insulting me as a person for having a different view, nor that he was making any big leaps about me based on what little I'd written. I have little idea where I agree or disagree with Wolfs, but he also does a great job of questioning others in a respectful fashion on this forum, and again, I value his challenging posts.<br><br>I think the trick is questioning the ideas, and not the people. It's a fuzzy line, but of course it's possible to be way on one side or the other of the line (name calling or putting people down for their thinking is clearly on one side, for example). Another trick is to keep open to the alternate viewpoints even while you're presenting your own - question out of curiosity and not just to cross-examine. For anyone who wants to brush up, there's a great book titled Difficult Conversations written by folks who have dealt with everything from marital disputes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and they did a fantastic job of boiling down discussion dynamics to a concise little book. Everyone I've recommended it to has thanked me after reading it, from a father who finally figured out how to avoid locking horns with his daughter to folks dealing with nasty work situations. I need to re-read the book, as it's tough to master its content in one reading, and I think this is a place where most of us can improve throughout our lives.

For anyone who wants to brush up, there's a great book titled Difficult Conversations written by folks who have dealt with everything from marital disputes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and they did a fantastic job of boiling down discussion dynamics to a concise little book.

<br><br>This is what I love about the net! Thanks for this book recommendation, Jim. I haven't heard of it before. I'll give it a look. I've read Getting to Yes, which apparently was a predecessor to this book, and I thought it was quite good.<br>

Just remember..."Opinions are like buttholes, Everybody has one".<br><br>Aaron

Communication between individuals is probably one of the most difficult things that we will encounter in our lives. It's great that we all have unique personalities and different opinions; it would be a very boring world if we didn't. Even though the internet is a great place for all of us to communicate, it's also equally hard sometimes to not misinterpret what is written. The fact that you are not able to view a person's facial expression, hear their voice, or experience the pregnanted pauses in the thought process adds to the difficulity. I, myself find communicating with family, friends, and business associates a never ending source of education and pleasure. Thanks Jim and Lowell for the suggestions on reading material, it's always nice to learn a couple of new tools that will help in some of lifes challenges .