About the acrimony on DU… [View All]

[Jackpine Radical]

While we could always do with less heat and more light, and ad hominem crap is unnecessary, I find DU to be particularly valuable as a place where people debate things from all sides. If I wanted to listen to a choir I'd go to church.

Case in point--the raging debate on the Libya intervention. I have not made up my mind how I feel about this whole mess, and I find the various discussion threads here to be extremely useful as people throw all sorts of considerations into the mix. I'm no expert on North Africa, nor on the geopolitics of the region. Other people here know a helluva lot more than I do--and, whatever their position on the affair, I value their input. They bring up things I might never have thought of or known.

What's true of Libya is true of a lot of contentious issues around here, including many on which I have formed an opinion. I don't just want to hear my own voice echoed. I need the continuous reality-check that is provided by intelligent and passionate advocates of other viewpoints, and it is not uncommon for me to shift my position in response to well-reasoned arguments from those who disagree with me.