Winded yet?

[SCOUTER-Terry 129]

One cool thing about electronic Forums is that no matter how much nonsense someone wants to type, no trees or baby seals must die for the privilege. So, feel free to flame on with nonsense... but don't hijack other discussions, and don't be unScoutlike.

 

Ed/Merlyn -- you both do a disservice to your respective perspectives... people tend to align not so much WITH arguments, but AGAINST people with which they can not relate.

 

Ed, we've been through these silly battles with you before... the last time you were suspended from the Forums for meaninglessly antagonizing Bob White (who quickly joined in the game, just like Merlyn). I suspect you CAN learn (contrary to Merlyn's opinion), and that you choose not to accept facts that you find disagreeable. That's you're right to be obtuse, but how about a little more than a "burp" in explaining your opinion? To do less is really unScoutlike. I'm tempted to suspend you again for a cooling off period from the banter.

 

Merlyn, the "Scoutlike" way to handle a person who is either deliberately misstating the truth or "unable to learn" would be to have endless patience... point out the facts again to counter their argument, or explain it differently to help them (and others) learn (whichever the case may be). Or decide you can't help them, and focus your attention on others that you can help (i.e. ignore him). The unScoutlike thing to do would be to run out of patience for Ed, yet continue to engage with him in rhetoric.

 

Who do you expect to align with your point of view? Ed? Probably not going to happen. More likely you'll win over people who can't relate to Ed, but only if they ultimately can relate to you.

 

We all get carried away from time to time, and need a little time to reset. I'm going to assume Ed got carried away and is being intentionally obtuse because he enjoys poking a stick at Merlyn. I'm going to assume Merlyn got carried away and is poking the stick back at Ed because he's out of endless patience, and is too stubborn to disengage from the debate.

 

Can we reset, or do we need a cooling off period?

 

TERRY HOWERTON