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Old 03-05-2018, 08:33 PM   #64
Rich Z
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghosthousecorns View Post
I still keep corns but life has had its ups and downs for me and it can be hard to still have as much passion and time to write about the hobby. I used to be here all the time and if you search the older posts my name will come up a bit, as I was a contributing member for years. I will be completely honest and I can handle if this gets taken the wrong way - it's actually the first time I have logged on in ages- but a lot of times the posts on this forum would get very political and it seemed like a lot of corn keepers and snake people in general, lean far to the right- and I kind of lean the other way- so at least on FB there is a little "unfollow" thing you can do if someones's politics opinion posts are just driving you nuts. I tend to be too much of an empath and absorb feelings from people even when I do not want to. Just being honest that this was a factor in my visits becoming less frequent. I still come to this site sometimes and look for old threads because it is more searchable than FB, FWIW
Pity... I've always felt that it is beneficial to allow yourself to be exposed to differing opinions so you don't get locked into believing only what you want to believe, likely based on limited exposure in the past to a broad range of sources of relevant and opposing information. Personally I rather welcome opinions that are presented in a logical and reasoned approach that differ from my own, since I freely admit that I don't know everything, and my own opinions might just be based on incomplete data input. Of course, that doesn't mean that someone saying the same thing over and over again, just using different terms, or more strenuously or vigorously will be providing the input needed to change my opinion. Emotion and fact deficient opinion doesn't sway me. Only facts and reason can do that.

Heck, if someone could present a convincing argument to me why firearms being in the hands of the general public is a real bad idea, I might even change my stance on that. However, for all the rhetoric that has been thrown around about this issue over my lifetime, I have yet to hear such a convincing argument from anyone.

So please don't limit yourself to exclusive exposure to opinions and statements that merely support your own prior developed convictions and beliefs. To remove yourself from an atmosphere where all sides are welcome to be expressed seems so, well, one sided and limited for personal growth to me. Life is way too short to not want to at least hear all sides of issues to have a balanced understanding of reality. Everything should be a learning experience. Even being wrong about something is a much better learning experience than being right. ESPECIALLY being wrong about something. So personally, I welcome discussions where someone is able to prove my beliefs wrong. Or at least give me something to think about to reconsider such beliefs.

I am sorry that such an atmosphere as what has been provided here is not attractive or of interest to you.