Reading comprehension. And conceptual abilities. Did it ever occur to you that he might think I care about his opinion on this matter?
They have and did. That you are unaware of such is not my problem.
I agree, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t make an effort to be more professional, when you know that it makes you look better and it makes you more persuasive. I’m sure that many professional economists have aggressive personalities, but they control themselves because they are adults and they have the ability to do so.
I am simply making a plea to persuade fellow posters to control their anger, or whatever it is which causes them to personally insult people who post here but do not necessarily share the same opinions, because it makes Mises.org look a lot better than it would otherwise.
That’s like saying that it’s OK for you to have a very aggressive friend and allow him to start fist fights, while you are the “diplomat”. It makes more sense to help your friend become calmer and more rational. There will be people in this life that will annoy you. Over the long-run, you will find that it is much more profitable to treat them like fellow adults and if it gets out of hand just to ignore them and to not socialize with them.
What happens is that the poster who gets insulted will likely not come back (at some point). He will then have a negative image of Mises.org and the entire Austrian “movement”. Otherwise, had the insulter just avoided posting, perhaps someone else would have simply kept up the debate and ultimately persuaded the poster, or agreed to disagree. In this fashion, perhaps the poster will be inclined to return, and slowly his mind will change.
Surely, that is a major factor in what allowed me to transform myself from an avid falangista (national socialist) into a libertarian. I genuinely believed in minimum wage, but my “converters” did not insult me. I did not necessarily agree with them, at first, but it allowed me to take a more open mind towards Austrian economics. Now, I consider myself a full-blown Austrian.
You’re not telling me what I didn’t comprehend. That certainly doesn’t help me understand any better. He might have cared about what you thought were you more open to his opinion. Instead, you said, “I don’t care what you think.” That is hardly productive, which is what I was referring to.
Jonathan,
Why would that even bother you? Sometimes I wonder if this has to do with the thickness of ones own skin (not thin or thick libertarianism). Of skin. I’ve had a hard life. I used to run through fields of thorn bushes for the hell of it. I learned to love it and not feel pain. I’m a wierdo, but it was my life. I slept out in the winter cold numerous, numerous times. I’ve worked some farm life on and off. I’ve seen the sh-t hole of criminals gone wild. Some of the stuff on this forum is little stuff and makes me wonder why some people are even bothered by it. I don’t see all the problems in this forum that others seem to think exist. This is a matter of perception I hope you do realize.
I sometimes wonder about people that have seen war. They probably are real a-s kickers in the figurative sense.
I actually did, but no matter. You simply need to get over the silly notion that there’s something wrong with insults. Or not. Either way: not my problem.
damn that’s good! Turn the divide and conquer on it’s head, turn it around on them, and make it a division of labor.
You are probably right, and I have thought about it while posting (for example, maybe I should stop responding to the posts I disagree with and the argument goes in circles).
I’m not sure what one’s life experiences has to do with anything. I was in the Army and I have had my share of life experience inside and outside of the army (I am from Carabanchel, Madrid, which is not a good neighborhood). I have consistently had different opinions than my friends (as I said, I was a falangista, while most of my friends were anarchist-syndicalist). But, maybe it was the fact that I consistently had different opinions that allowed me to become more elegant when it came to arguing with those who disagreed with me.
In any case, I agree with you that different people have different ways of approaching different situations. But, like I said before, I think that adults have the ability to be rational.
Why do I care? Because, I care about Mises.org’s image. Furthermore, while it may not directly influence people’s perception of me, but it does indirectly. I have to carry the burden of the attachment that oftentimes goes with internet-surfing libertarians (and, this is a generalization, as Statists act in the same way; I didn’t mean it as a characteristic of libertarianism).
I realize that I am arguing with a wall in several instances, and I should probably just walk away, because arguing with the wall is crazy, right?
Well I wouldn’t advocate putting on a facade for others. We are normal human beings and diverse. Some people are nice, some are not nice. That is just who we are.
That isn’t at all what it is like. Having a friend who isn’t always accommodating isn’t like having a friend who starts fist fights.
Well we are not the Mises Institute. Yes we are a forum but anyone can sign up. No one person is a representation of anything but themselves.
Well I think you are neglecting the second part of my social division of labor. I haven’t seen Baawa specifically go out of his way to thoroughly insult new people. Usually the new people run into people other individuals like Conzo, Lilburne, you etc.
Ok. Don’t take this in an insulting fashion but not everyone is you. I remember a cat named Harry Felker who came into these forums with this whole minarchist agenda and I remember going page after page with him back in my ‘You’re a statist because you want limited government’ period. He changed. This doesn’t mean ‘Hey lets all start insulting people and see if that works’ nor vice versa. Methodological individualism. We should treat them as individuals, not groups.
Putting on a façade against others is oftentimes the best thing to do if you want to retain an image of professionalism. I might think my boss is an idiot, but I don’t tell him that to his face because that simply wouldn’t be productive.
It is in the sense that it unnecessarily antagonizes the opponent, when that is not the best route to take.
This doesn’t disprove what I said. We may be individuals, but we are grouped under “Misenians”. There is a reputation of that title to maintain. You notice how many posters on these forums group Keynesians together, and then call them collectively “idiots”. People do the same thing to us. Is it really productive?
The opening post wasn’t referring to him.
I agree that not everybody is me. I never said that everybody should be me. I am not saying that we should treat people as goups. You are missing my point. I am talking about what is productive and what is not productive, and what gives the Mises Institute a good image and what does not.
I turn it on and off. I am well aware that I’m absolutist on some things which leads me to a declaration ‘it’s either this or that’. It’s up to you. I sometimes think sticking with something is a learning experience, but if you feel you’ve learned enough then why go on in the discussion. It’s not that you need to learn anything in particular. That’s up to you discover.
Life experience has a lot to do with everything. Life is the experience. We don’t experience anything else here on this earth.
I grew up in a household that argued a lot. I was the peace-maker that’s what my father told me. In my household, mother, father, and sister all ended up going on prozaic or some form of mental medication. I watched them deteriorate before my very eyes. It’s painful. I never needed any medication. I figured out ways to combat my demons other ways. Now I do have a brother and he isn’t on medication but he dabbled with communism and that was scary. He’s turning it around a bit and has been listening to some audio on the mises. Sometimes the world seems to be falling apart and I’m the only one around that is trying to hold an sanity together. Without my wife I probably would be wandering the wilderness. I yearn to go there anyways at times. Not to build crazy bombs, but to simply get away from the madness. Life really isn’t meant to be so chaotic. People go nuts sometimes. What does this have to do with anything in our current discussion? I don’t know, but your way of learning how to handle a situation with elegance is honorable. I think there a lot of virtuous efforts going on. Courage is a virtue. I think Knight has a tremendous amount of courage. Instead of beating him down turn on some of that elegance and be elegant towards him - maybe?
lol… not crazy. And that wall might not be Knight or others here. It might be a wall of your making. Everybody in this thread is attempting to be rational, an adult, and has a heart. It’s difficult to find the moments to be supportative of each other, but nobody has called anybody a “retard” in this thread so have we met your advocation?
Yes.
Yes but one no here is working for the ‘Austrian movement.’ We aren’t employees. Many of us are simply second hand dealers of ideas.
Well some would agree and some would disagree. We aren’t violating anybodies rights therefore someone is perfectly capable of being nasty to people. You may think it is wrong and in some sense I would agree with you. If you want to persuade people to be nicer then not a problem, I applaud your efforts. However, I don’t think it beneficial to utilize the image of LvMi as your main argument because like I said, we are a diverse people. We shouldn’t be pushing members into a select mold of interaction. Perhaps a good suggestion could be something like ‘Hey guys, I think we should be nicer to folks because you know honey attracts better etc etc’ I think it somewhat improper to say ‘We need to be this way because our movement depends on it or something along those lines’
Well I think that is a fallacy of composition. People often fall into that trap when discussing groups, I certainly don’t deny that.
But clearly it has devolved to him.
Well what is and isn’t productive varies from person to person like I stated. Also we cannot control the image that is presented by the LvMi. We can be ourselves, we can do certain actions but we cannot control how that is imputed into the mind of another. We be ourselves, not ivory tower penny droppers nor gutter ankle grabbers.
Harry!!![:D]
Do you not care about the opinions of anybody on the matter, or only mine?
Yes, Harry is no longer on anymore. I think the government caught up to him. That cat was getting more radical by the day.
Nooo.[:)] Marquise would have said something to us. She comes on from time to time still. Though the last time has been awhile. He was getting radical though.
I thought Marquise was a woman. Wasn’t she the nihilist? How would she/he know Harry?
She wasn’t a nihilist. She came from a communist country and I discussed with her at times in pm’s about how it was. She was all about liberty. Her and Harry got married.[:)]
No way. When did that happen? Did they meet on here or did they know each other before hand?