Politics are in the air! And while I am a self-confessed liberal *gasp*, I absolutely love the political process. I do hate the bipartisan system for far too many reasons to extrapolate now. But, I love the free exchange of ideas and debate. FUN! And my political leanings tend to be based not on a Democratic ticket, but in the writings on one JS Mill. (http://www.iep.utm.edu/m/milljs.htm) I believe in civil liberties, only infrindging on personal rights in the cases of minors and the harming of another being.
Furthermore, while I will most likely not be persuaded to vote for discrimination of any kind, I appreciate a good, intelligent debate, if it is intelligent. A good childhood friend of mine was my polar oposite politically and we had so much fun duking it out over the issues. She's since moved away and it's one of the things I miss most about our friendship. She was smart and not afraid of disagreeing with her best friend while still respecting my opinion.
And here's where things get frustrating, especially here on SHINE. Why is it, more often than not, that we rarely read or hear a logical or well-formed conservative argument? It's not as if that's an impossible request. I, for one, would love to read a non-defensive, fact-laden, grammar-based, logical argument.
Thus, in that spririt, some advice to my fellow posters, liberal, conservative, moderate, and independant alike when using rhetoric (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rhetoric):
- Good grammar is the cornerstone of sounding intelligent.
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- Please do not type in all caps.
- Check your spelling. An occasional typo is forgivable. But, the constant mispelling of words, espcially the names of candidates, places, and world leaders simply causes you to appear uninformed and deflates your argument of any validity.
- Learn how to conjugate. A plural noun requires a plural verb and thus the same with singular nouns. (http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp)
- Likewise, learn the differences between there, their, and they're, its and it's, your and you're, and other commonly misused words (http://www.grammarbook.com/homonyms/confusing-words-1.asp)
- These grammar mistakes distract from your argument and cause you to appear uneduacated and thus uneduacted about the issues. Try and avoid them. If you're awful at grammar, get a book or an online guide and check your mistakes when writing. That's the great thing about writing; you can always check your mistakes.
- Don't be defensive. Laying blame to "the liberals" or "the conservatives" is childish, slightly libelous, and harkens back to bigotry (you wouldn't say "the blacks" or "the jews" so curb your tongue when labeling a group) . Simply craft your argument around your points and leave any name calling and finger pointing out of it.
- Learn about fallacies and avoid them. My favorites are the "red herrings," when a point is being made to distract from the real issue. (http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/) It's almost impossible to remember all the fallacies. When I was a writing student, I could never remember them all so contstantly referred to notes. But, as a general rule, ask yourself if your argument is grounded, factual, and on point. If it isn't, most likely you are falling into the fallacy trap.
- Be respectful of others' opinions. If someone is attacking, please do not attack them back. Your argument is undermined when you apply this tactic. Simply say, I see where you are coming from, but I believe this...Or, don't attack their beliefs, but undermine their logic or argument. Many great debates are won this way. If you can crack the foundation of the argument without attacking someone personally or their beliefs, you can win with dignity and class, not to mention wit and intelligence.
Now, let the debates begin!
