Feminist. Fundamentalist. Extremist. Racist. Revisionist. Secularist.
Labels that are stamped on the foreheads of people who takes whatever sides to an argument. We stamp them and subsequently compartmentalise them into whichever definition suits the argument in question, most of the time, ignoring the context in which certain opinions are formed.
That's where the typical internet debate can be frustrating. No point of reference, no background of where the idea is stemming from. No way of looking at the subtexts, detecting nuances in the communication. They're all words typed in the same fonts, behind nicks that are often not reflective of the origin of the thoughts.
We argue and rationalise, but after a certain point, there's the influence of experience that leads us to our individual conclusions. There's also the influence of faith - which kicks in to take the argument to our conclusion where the logic cannot venture any further. The comments grow longer, yet we all still stick to our own truths.
I wonder if anyone has come up with a 'communication protocol' for inter-civilisational dialogue...
Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2004年02月19日 21:29 | TrackBackThat's usually why the best yet the hardest thing to do is argue not for the sake of making a point, but for the sake of understanding why a point has to be made. In sharing not just preaching ideas, anyone, any idea can grow and evolve into something more than it originally is no matter what it started out in the first place.
Key word is in being open. Which people arely are in the first place.
Posted by: Edrei at 2004年02月19日 22:45agree najah.. sometimes i just give up trying to put up a different view on an issue to some net-citizen.If they aren't willing to listen and be open to other ideas, you wont never get them to change their prejudice on the issues
Posted by: ixnay at 2004年02月20日 19:53people who resort to labels are childish.
nice pic of sugar you have there, najah. may i know the connection of the sugar with this post? to show the label of white sugar and brown sugar?
Posted by: lucia at 2004年02月21日 08:28Lucia,
No direct correlation between the sugar and the post except... me! I was just staring at it and thinking abt stuff...
off topic here. don't mind eh najah?
just wanna inform you that since my blog comments (haloscan) had started trackback recently, i had ping one of your post 'desirability factor' as trackback. hope you don't mind i do it first without asking.
Posted by: lucia at 2004年02月21日 09:54That "typical internet debate" revealed there are a lot of UGLY Malaysians. :-(
Posted by: Honey at 2004年02月23日 14:04