General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why do disagreements here [View all]frazzled
(18,402 posts)at least on Internet sites. People are here because they have strong convictions to begin with, and short of some overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they're not going to change those opinions. The Internet allows us to seek out only what we wish to see or hear about.
Witness the "ignore" button here: it allows people to filter out everything but what they want to hear and who they want to hear it from. That certainly doesn't promote discussion. Try posting a link to some long or complex explanatory article in a post: people won't read it if they think it contradicts their previously held beliefs.
We live in a culture of self-perpetuating beliefs: we seek out only the news and analysis we want to hear.
All that's left, then, is calling the "other" opinion holders names, as loudly and cleverly as we can. It's like a 5th-grade playground.