Enough

He was in the shower, trying to wash off the way he felt.  Problem was that mental dirt does not come off with simple soap and water.  “Why?  Why do I read it at all?”

Arguments to and fro on issues of the day flashed across his minds eye and he adjusted the water to be shade hotter.  “Definitions are handy for helping frame a question, they are not an answer.  Ad hominem attacks do nothing but make both sides look bad, one for doing it and the other gets sprayed with the muck.  Slippery slopes and righteous indignation, on both sides.”

Earlier a podcaster had asked Mike to summarize 80 pages of debate.  It took him five sentences.  Friends of his had fallen on both sides of the debate but Mike often found that they were dealing with incomplete information or trusting others summaries.  Some of the summaries were, to say the least, edited to show that side in the best light.

“The funniest thing is that they blame Ripard even though this issue has been on the back burner for weeks.”  He closed his eyes and let the water run down his face.  “But I suppose everybody was looking for somebody to blame, by that point.  I only wish there were better terms and analogies that did not connect the issue to other more ‘hot button’ topics.  Say ‘torture’ and get a dictionary thrown at you.  Abuse would have been a better word.  Connect it by example to any form of ‘domestic abuse’ or, worse, sexual assault and all the gloves come off.”

He killed the flow of water and grabbed a towel.  “In the end, it comes down to the fact that the powers that be have the right to remove a pilots license.  And they did, supposedly.  So all the angry folks are looking for places to vent the last of their built up pressure.”

The towel covered his head and muffled the last words as he rubbed his hair into a semblance of dry.  “But why did some of them come over to my campaign to cool down?  Why?”

**************************************************************

Lessons

There are a LOT of debating tactics.  Some are even valid.  Most that I saw were not.

No, I won’t rehash it any more than I have above.  This is one of the few blog posts that I am unsure whether I should even hit ‘Publish’ on.

Look, if you visit my thread in the campaign forums come on over and give me an endorsement if you have something nice to say.  Ask questions if you want an issue addressed.  Or ask here.  But give me a break from the above issue.  For a little while, anyhow.

fly it like you won it.  I haven’t been in space in days.

m