I talk with people I respect and wish to learn from.

I engage in discussion not to prove that I am right, but to test ideas and be open to learning how I may be wrong. Ideas are put through the crucible, refined, clarified, discarded.

Democracy was built on debate.
1/

1/

I try my best to be collegial, but also to appear to be. Twitter format doesn't always make it easy, and sometimes I fall short.

I sometimes worry that we are losing the art of discussion.

2 /
I think to our predecessors who without technology, would exchange and debate ideas across vast distances with lengthy, meticulously handwritten letters.

The act of forging ideas this way likely forced a thoughtfulness...

3 /
The cost of waiting a month for a reply only to have your idea misunderstood or easily refuted is quite high; this placed a premium on critical thinking - best to make your point well the first time.

It's easy to see how cordialities became so common in those eras.

4 /
Best not affront your pen pal after you spent several days composing your thoughts and weeks waiting to hear back.

Great ideas were forged this way. The enlightenment.

Twitter's format does influence how we communicate, how we think, and how we perceive each other.

5 /
As an ardent believer in, and defender of, democracy, I belive it's imperative we retain our ability to debate in good-faith.

That's not to say debate always converges to an answer, or it won't get heated from time to time - but that we come willing to learn and concede.
6 /
Guided by the principal that we are all seeking truth and respect each other. Quaecumquevera.

I sometimes worry that debate is devolving into a winner-take-all-cockfight. Or maybe it just feels that way.

I appreciate when it doesn't, but the uneasiness exists.

7/
If we care about democracy, we also have to care about debate.

That's not to say that all people or ideas are worth entertaining.

I appreciate those of you who have entertained my thoughts and ideas and engaged in good-faith debate. Thank you
8/
I'm not sure where this leaves us. I appreciate all of you I've met on Twitter and how much I've learned from your varied perspectives. It's definitely influenced me for the better.

/Fin

More from Society

Imagine if Christians actually had to live according to their Bibles.


Imagine if Christians actually sacrificed themselves for the good of those they considered their enemies, with no thought of any recompense or reward, but only to honor the essential humanity of all people.

Imagine if Christians sold all their possessions and gave it to the poor.

Imagine if they relentlessly stood up for the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner.

Imagine if they worshipped a God whose response to political power was to reject it.

Or cancelled all debt owed them?

Imagine if the primary orientation of Christians was what others needed, not what they deserved.

Imagine Christians with no interest in protecting what they had.

Imagine Christians who made room for other beliefs, and honored the truths they found there.

Imagine Christians who saved their forgiveness and mercy for others, rather than saving it for themselves.

Whose empathy went first to the abused, not the abuser.

Who didn't see tax as theft; who didn't need to control distribution of public good to the deserving.

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