Apart from the 'Dead' threads which usually come through quicker than the Beeb - what is the point of General Talk?

People with an opinion that they'll never change, will never climb down from, will never say "Now I've heard a few more facts I've changed my mind" - like it's a massive weakness to change a point of view - constantly sitting at keyboards typing the equivalent of:

"Yes it is"
"No it isn't"
"Yes it is"
"You're a w***er!"

Many times I've been on here and read something in the first post which I've agreed with and then someone else counters it and I change my mind and then someone else counters again and I revise my opinion further.

Why is that so difficult for some people?
This is an internet message board for a football team. There's no prizes. It's not a debating society. There's no shame in being wrong and no shame in changing your view when more facts come to light.

Threads on here reach 20 pages with the same arguments that are on page 1. If someone can't argue their opponent into agreement and can't beat them into it either they seem incredulous that another human being won't agree with them.

Knowing that it rarely, if ever, happens what's the point? I'd have so much more respect for people who admit they formed an opinion based on what they knew at the time and then changed it when they knew more facts - not just keep banging the same drum all the time.

The best example is probably Brexit - a decision so important it should never have been foisted on the general public with a "Here's a couple of leaflets from both sides, pop into a booth and make one of the most important political decisions in this country's history would you."
And now everyone is stuck with this label Brexiter, Remainer, Xenephobe, Little Englander, Europhile.

The truth was a lot of people were fed up that the country was seen to be propping up the likes of Greece and making large payments to French farmers etc. Slightly more than half the voters protested against this without being aware of the full consequences and mostly not believing it would make a blind bit of difference. They're not all suddenly racist bigots..... except in General Talk where everything is black or white.

There may as well be an agree or disagree button on every topic and just have a vote at the end of every week. Then the winner can go home and tell his family 'he WON' - because that's the most important thing on here, right?

You fed me, you bred me, I'll remember your name.

When you see people putting their point of view it's easy to assume that they are trying to change the opinion of the person they talk to.

The point of general talk is to 'get an opinion' out there. The person you are debating with may not agree, but the debate isn't really for them. It's to that person reading whose viewpoint hasn't been decided.

Very few debates end with someone changing their mind....Some may alter later upon reflection...That's happened to me. But in general you are correct in stating that it looks silly and childish.

People in general wrap up their opinions within their self worth and image....So even if you could prove a person wrong about something they would most probably just double down on their original viewpoint.

Some people are self assured and open minded but they are a minority.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Part of the problem is that we are not face to face. I'm sure we would be far more polite and reasonable if we were (well, with one or two exceptions!)

We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. [Orwell]

What's the point of anything, its all a distraction from the inevitability of mortal existence. General talk, like having kids, or sniffing glue; it's just as way to temper the howl of the futility of human existence.

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

Can I borrow your needle and brown?

COYP

That's true only in a creator-less universe....and I'm not talking about the almost certainly false 'personal gods' here. There could be a point...but perhaps we don't understand it...or like it... almost certainly we aren't the focus.

Besides we live on via those kids. That's half of you, minus the consciousness.

Besides, leaving the world a tiny bit better than you came in has a point to it.

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Oct 2017 10.34am)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)