I consider myself a pretty well informed person, and I like to debate online when I get the chance, but lately, I have become very discontented with the level of discourse that I am finding online. What I would truly love, would be to find a venue where other well informed individuals could come to exchange opinions and discuss issues in a respectful and thought provoking manner, rather than just verbally abusing anyone who has a differing opinion.
This is much harder than it ought to be, since the Internet has opened a totally new format for people with polarized opinions to talk together with a sense of anonymity that allows them to be nasty and cruel without ever coming face to face with anyone they talk to. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was feeling up for a rousing debate online that was not a round of crude name calling and swearing at each other.
I happened to mention this to a friend of mine, and he told me that there was a great website that was designed for that exact reason. Basically what it does is allow anyone to write a brief article espousing a certain viewpoint. Anyone else is able to write a counter argument, and these two articles are posted side by side on the website, but rather than just leave them be, website visitors can then vote on the side they prefer, once they log in.
Because people have to log in to leave comments, the comments are not as anonymous as they are with most other websites, and there is not as much chance for people to leave cruel and awful comments. The opinions that people express on this website are original and thought-provoking, and people discuss a great array of political issues, which is delightful to me. This website got me so excited, that I now find myself talking to most of my friends and family members about the discussions I have been participating in on the website, and trying to persuade others to join in the debate.
Once I had participated in some of these debates online, I felt like I was able to state my viewpoints in a more clear manner, and I also learned to value opposing viewpoints and what I can learn from them, which I think makes me better informed. Sometimes I worry about the state of political discourse in this country, but after experiencing a higher level of debate, I have renewed hopes and understanding that even though pundits may dumb down everything for ratings, there are intelligent, wise, and capable people out there!
This is much harder than it ought to be, since the Internet has opened a totally new format for people with polarized opinions to talk together with a sense of anonymity that allows them to be nasty and cruel without ever coming face to face with anyone they talk to. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was feeling up for a rousing debate online that was not a round of crude name calling and swearing at each other.
I happened to mention this to a friend of mine, and he told me that there was a great website that was designed for that exact reason. Basically what it does is allow anyone to write a brief article espousing a certain viewpoint. Anyone else is able to write a counter argument, and these two articles are posted side by side on the website, but rather than just leave them be, website visitors can then vote on the side they prefer, once they log in.
Because people have to log in to leave comments, the comments are not as anonymous as they are with most other websites, and there is not as much chance for people to leave cruel and awful comments. The opinions that people express on this website are original and thought-provoking, and people discuss a great array of political issues, which is delightful to me. This website got me so excited, that I now find myself talking to most of my friends and family members about the discussions I have been participating in on the website, and trying to persuade others to join in the debate.
Once I had participated in some of these debates online, I felt like I was able to state my viewpoints in a more clear manner, and I also learned to value opposing viewpoints and what I can learn from them, which I think makes me better informed. Sometimes I worry about the state of political discourse in this country, but after experiencing a higher level of debate, I have renewed hopes and understanding that even though pundits may dumb down everything for ratings, there are intelligent, wise, and capable people out there!
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