It seems that every time a controversial thread pops up it can run smoothly for a while. AND THEN someone has to jump in attacking others personally and the whole thread goes to shit and eventually ends up locked.
Word of advice, if one can't support a side of an argument without turning it personal, one needs to take a debate or argumentation class or just learn some social skills. "Because I think you're stupid" does not hold much weight in a debate.
Debates CAN be fun and enlightening, but when attacks replace argumentation, it just becomes another schoolyard fight.
Yes, it's easy to sit comfortably behind a keyboard and talk big. But, in the end it gains one little respect. It's no quick way to make friends.
DPC is a global community. We have all sorts of people with entirely different views. It's a great opportunity to expand one's views by listening to all sides of arguments. Doesn't that sound great? Global expansion of internal views.
I would have to say that the "your stupid" comment offends me the most. It is usually used to say "you don't agree with me so you are stupid". I have seen it used about opinions (like mine yesterday) and in general about voters who don't like whatever the photographer/artist thinks is wonderful. I have a college degree in business, so when it comes to art I AM uneducated, but I don't consider myself stupid.
I doubt that everybody with a PhD in art has the same taste or agrees on what makes something good/bad. My camera club has quarterly contests judged by professional photographers and artists, and the comments and scores given always remind me of the comments and scores given here. One loves the lighting and composition, another says it is all wrong.
If these highly educated professionals can disagree, what are we, the uneducated masses, to do? How are we to know what is "good"? :)
Ad hominem arguments reveal the weakness of the attacker. Personally, I learn as much from stupid people as I do from anyone else.
For those who don't know what it means, "ad hominem" refers to an argument "against the man" or person. This is a device employed to attack not the issues but rather the one you are arguing with, especially on a personal level or basis. It is usually employed by those whose arguments are weak.
Wkipedia has this to say: "An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin, literally "argument [aimed] at the person", but usually translated as "argument to the man"), is a logical fallacy that involves replying to an argument or assertion by addressing the person presenting the argument or assertion rather than the argument itself or an argument pointing out an inconsistency between a view expressed by an individual and the remainder of his or her beliefs."
Ad hom arguments, of course, are as epidimic on the Web as they are in real life. We see them in politics all the time, for example. If you can't attack a candidate on the issues, you will attack him personally instead. And even both, for that matter.
It seems that every time a controversial thread pops up it can run smoothly for a while. AND THEN someone has to jump in attacking others personally and the whole thread goes to shit and eventually ends up locked.
Word of advice, if one can't support a side of an argument without turning it personal, one needs to take a debate or argumentation class or just learn some social skills. "Because I think you're stupid" does not hold much weight in a debate.
Debates CAN be fun and enlightening, but when attacks replace argumentation, it just becomes another schoolyard fight.
Yes, it's easy to sit comfortably behind a keyboard and talk big. But, in the end it gains one little respect. It's no quick way to make friends.
DPC is a global community. We have all sorts of people with entirely different views. It's a great opportunity to expand one's views by listening to all sides of arguments. Doesn't that sound great? Global expansion of internal views.
You're absolutely correct. I got caught up in one today (friday) probably the one that prompted this rant. And although I wasn't the one to make an attack, I got annoyed and put in my unnecessary two-cents, only making it a little worse. I'm usually such a lurker, that I don't get in trouble this way. But today I got into it and had to recant privately. Bummer.
It seems that every time a controversial thread pops up it can run smoothly for a while. AND THEN someone has to jump in attacking others personally and the whole thread goes to shit and eventually ends up locked.
Why you rabid......... photographer!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
