This question is just out of curiosity...

We post lot of observation and argumented opinions on this forum, but has anyone really changed their minds of anything..

I see many people, who has selected their camps, and they will filter any information they get throught that selected camp's frame of thought..

Has anyone really gotten some information, which had resulted in him changing his opinion?

Has anyone even read some other person's opinion from a separate camp so that it has affected him/her in any possible way?

If our opinions and thoughts have no affection to each others what-so-ever, isn't this all a little futile?

- BtD

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"Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
[George Orwell, 1984]
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
[George Orwell, 1984]

It's only futile if you're wrong, BtD. I enjoy friendly debates without the expectation of changing someone's mind.

What do you mean by camp? Don't you think people can form opinions without being told what to think? IMO, most of the people here form their opinions based on their own life experiences. For instance, parents are more likely to agree with each other on many points.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

But I will say that when I first started posting to online bulletin boards, I was far more liberal than I am today. Folks who knew me back in those days (barney fife, Eric/Eup, stekim, others) could tell you that I was very much a centrist Democrat...

I still have some liberal positions, but 15 years of working with struggling inner city communities, and exposure to new ideas through these forums, has pushed me to the right.

I became convinced that the ideas I saw coming from the right were more in line with the practical realities I had experienced in the real world.

Catz

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I love the smell of napalm in the morning...It smells like victory.

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Bugalugs: "people join the military because they are stupid and gullible."

..I have become more of a fiscal "hawk" than anything. And I have also become more of a "pro-life" individual...though I am not going to be picketing abortion clinics and or wishing harm on doctors because its still LEGAL to have abortions.

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"Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet."

Yes... i listened to the left and became a righty... before I started posting on internet message boards I was a military supporting independent. The SECOND i questioned my original assessment that John Kerry's war record may not be spotless i was crucified by my lefty "friends"... so i became a righty because at least they don't crucify me if i disagree with the party line. They just disagree.

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I was banned from godlike productions... and loved it.

Yes, but not on major issues.

How very human of us! Most everything we think about is filtered through a "selected camp's frame of thought" be it science, religion, philosophy, or politics. As Kuhn describes in his philosophy of science, people tend to interpret things through their world view. There are going to be inconsistencies in any generalized "frame of thought," but it takes a lot of perceived inconsistencies (or one major one) to evoke a transformational change.

People tend not to think that way. Even in the domain of the "hard sciences" where objective empiricism supposedly reigns supreme. Scientists will subscribe to a particular theory and interpret the world through that theory, though others may point out areas where the theory is clearly wrong. A shift in thinking occurs only in light of overwhelming evidence to the contrary (and even then, some will cling to the old ideas until they die). Changing opinions is a long and slow process, but that doesn't make debate "futile".

I have to make this a quick (read: not well thought out) post.

Moving the brood to a new school district and the little G's starting in school: rethink property taxes. Even voted FOR an increase! TWICE!!! Got burned, though. The voters were told X amount per 100K in house, but come to find out that it is more than DOUBLE XX.

Recent health stuff related to the little G's has me re-evaluating county spending, state spending, school spending, even personal charitable contributions.

Well, I really haven't came to change peoples minds. I post to sharpen my teeth in debating some topics when I have time. I am more of a clintonian centrist so I think am a little of both left and right. That will probably make it hard to change significantly.

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"I like that about the Republicans; the evidence does not faze them, they are not bothered at all by the facts."
-Bill Clinton

I changed my mind on the environment, I am more centrist on this and lean a little towards democrats if forced to choose. This was a change as a result of information I read here.

In my life, I started as an independent who voted about 3/4 democrat in my first election in 1984, that didn't change until 1992 when I voted anything but democrat. Much of that change was personal experience, but some of that had to do with persuasive arguments of others.

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All you need to know about the energy crisis:
ANWR Exploration Republicans: 91% Supported. Democrats: 86% Opposed.
Coal-to-liquid R's: 90% YES. D's: 78% NO.
Oil Shale Exploration R's: 90% YES. D's: 86% NO.
Outer Continental Shelf Exploration R's: 81% YES. D's: 83% NO.
Increased Refinery Capacity R's: 97% YES. D's: 96% NO

SUMMARY: 91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of America’s own oil and gas. 86% of House Democrats have historically voted against.

My mind probably hasn't changed as a result of debating on political boards. Although, good posts can often give me something to really think about. It's good to see something from another's point of view. If anything, I've learned on this board that not everything is always black or white. There are often shades of gray on issues.

But looking at my entire life.....my mind has changed. As I've said on this board before, I grew up in a Democrat family. They never changed.....but I did. In fact, before my Mom died in 2000....she was a very big defender of Bill Clinton. And she always believed Democrats were "for the little people"......as she used to put it. All this.....even though she was religious and didn't believe in abortion. But she still always voted Democrat. We used to have some very "good-spirited" arguments. But I loved my mother dearly and politics didn't rule our lives at all.

When I left home....traveled......lived other places.....became educated.....and saw more of life........I began to realize all the things I'd believed were simply not true. And I realize that my own point of view matched up more with the Republicans. I began to realize that it was Democrats who had actually kept people down, IMHO.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007