Feb 13
My Stance on Debate Here
So I read a mod's reasoning for the closing of yet another particularly controversial topic on this forum: The whole "Shadow is/isn't dead" debacle right here. And I tell ya, I'm pissed off, but not because he closed it. Lord knows that topic didn't deserve anything less minus outright deletion.
I'm talking about a smidgen of his justification on why-- Disrespecting someone's opinion. Now, I understand that the person whose "opinion was disrespected" was personally insulted, and that's something that's unnecessary. However, the general sentiment on this forum that you cannot "disrespect someone's opinion" is what really gets me.
This is something I've always encountered on this forum as a last-ditch defense during debate whenever my opponent is backed into a wall, this "disrespecting my opinion" stuff. And well... ironically, they're right. More often than not, I probably am disrespecting someone's opinion. Honestly, I'm not ashamed to call something nonsense or, even worse, shit.
But to justify why, let's first have a discussion about what exactly an opinion is. Please don't consider this patronizing; I'm trying to lead us somewhere.
Now, an opinion is a thought expressing one's subjective tastes. "Apple pie tastes good." "Horseback riding is fun." "Red is a better color for this car than blue." These are qualitative statements that can't be definitively proven like you can definitively prove that 2+2=4 instead of 2+2=5.
And whenever one opinion exists, its opposite is sure to exist as well: "Apple pie tastes awful." "Horseback riding isn't fun." "Blue is a better color for this car than red." That's just the nature of things, and if humanity was content with other opinions existing, we could stop right here and say that two people with opposing opinions would just agree to disagree and keep living life.
However, people aren't content with opposite opinions. That's why debate happens. When you get into an argument, you are automatically assuming that your position is at least equal to or better than your opponents'; Really, would you argue otherwise if you knew for certain that your opinion absolutely sucked? Of course not.
So we argue and try to best each other, but therein lies a quandary-- How can anyone prove that their position is better than their opponent's with platforms that are, by definition, unprovable?
Well, while you can't prove an opinion is literally true, you can substantiate your opinion with rationale and logic to a point where it's more defensible than your opponent's in that particular debate. And notice I said, "in that particular debate," because an opponent could easily demonstrate a better rationale than you in another debate.
To exemplify this phenomenon, "Horseback riding is fun because it allows you to bond with your horse" seems a lot more reasonable than, "Horseback riding isn't fun because horses are reptiles and thus evil," doesn't it? That's because the substantiation for the latter opinion doesn't make sense despite the fact that the general platforms-- "Horesback riding is fun" and "Horseback riding isn't fun"-- are still equivalent at the end of the day. In that particular debate, the person who believes that horseback riding is fun has more credability than the person that doesn't, and thus so does their opinion.
This is where a lot of SBers get it wrong despite the fact that I've said this so many times during an argument that it's practically become my motto around here: "I'm not offended by your opinion. I'm offended by the reasoning you used to arrive at that opinion." Your opinions do actually possess a weight based on the reasoning you demonstrate to justify it, and if your reasoning is lightweight and meaningless, why should anyone "respect" that?
Simple answer: They shouldn't. An opinion's respect has to be earned through good justification and fair rebuttals from the arguments against it. It shouldn't be handed out just because you have the right to have that particular opinion. No one's opinion is or should ever be so holy that no one is ever allowed to criticize it, and it's arrogant to think that yours is.
With that out of the way, let me put this in the context of the particular topic that the moderator closed and demonstrate to you why this particular instance has my blood boiling. The OP's platform is that "Shadow The Hedgehog is alive" while another poster's position is that "Shadow The Hedgehog is dead."
... Okay, first of all, these aren't even opinions much less positions claiming a state of being which can be definitively proven. Therefore, one has to be true and the other one has to be false just like the arithmetic problems above.
If one were to play the final boss of Shadow The Hedgehog and listened to Eggman's speech at around nine minutes in, he specifically states that Shadow was saved from his fall through the atmosphere by a robot and that he is the true Shadow.
Therefore, the debate is over: Shadow The Hedgehog is alive. To say that he is dead, much less try to seriously argue the position's validity with the overwhelming evidence we currently have on hand, is a denial of reality and worse than having an actual opinion with shaky substantiation.
But let's not define dead as a biological state but rather through terms of characterization. Is Shadow a good character or a bad character? It's been argued to death for years within the fanbase, proving that the debate at least has some genuine validity for existing beyond the fact that both of its platforms are opinions and thus arguable. If one were to look at the actual topic through that context, well...one would still have problems.
The person assuming the platform that Shadow is a bad character mistakenly agreed that a potential retribution would be for Sega not to write the character better, but to actually establish that there are two Shadows in the canon instead. If that were the case, the natural assumption to be made is that the current one is thus fake in some provable manner which, again, ignores truth.
This unfortunately-commonplace experience goes beyond having a different opinion. This is like saying that Shadow's primary fur color isn't black. Why should anyone respect this? I'm not going to pretend to give credence to a stance that claims it's true when it's demonstrably not just because 'free speech' allows you to assume a moronic position.
Unless you have absolutely extraordinary evidence and reasoning-- which you don't-- then you cannot get me to agree with you that water isn't made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
You cannot get me to agree with you that a dog isn't a mammal.
You cannot get me to agree with you that a computer isn't an electronic.
You cannot get me to agree with you that Russia isn't the biggest country in the world.
You cannot get me to agree with you that Barack Obama isn't the 44th president of the United States of America.
You cannot get me to agree with you that red isn't a primary color in the pigment and process color systems.
You cannot get me to agree with you that Shadow The Hedgehog isn't alive.
It truly saddens me that the quality of debate and conversation has sunk so low here that we cannot even call out obvious inconsistencies when we see them. It's part of the reason that I can't really get excited about making topics or even talking about anything here anymore.
If you aren't agreeing with someone, then you have to be absolutely politically correct with your disagreements. If you aren't (or sometimes, even if you make a effort to be and the person just doesn't want their opinion (or false statement) challenged), you're considered to be "disrespecting their opinion," bullying, unable to live with the fact that they have a different opinion, against free speech, etc.. Sometimes you're even told to leave the conversation.
How ironic that the people who crave "respect" don't always give it.
Sep 25
Emo-Ness Time!
xD Okay, I promise that this blog isn't going to be a festival of "dahkness", even though I've recently left out some good happenings because of rampant laziness. But every now and then, you need to take a moment and analyze your experiences to figure out where you're at and which blinker to turn on without confusing the hell out of the people around you even further.
In short, what I want to do is to call into question my personal compatibility with this job and board. After all, I seem to be one of the few, if only persons of power who constantly worry about this thing, possibly because I'm a tragic perfectionist. I crave to be right and have good judgement not only because the few times I am right serve to justify my existence a little more, but that's because that's what an administrative position requires and lately it seems like I've more often than not been in the wrong. For some strange reason, I've been so antagonistic, initiating arguments that either I could not win (I apologize for not owning up publically, Yvette, but I commend and further respect you for your knowledge concerning politics and history <3) or my authority's been called into serious question.
Sure, you can say it's only two incidents, but perhaps these two incidents are a blatant harbinger that I'm eventually going to collapse under this terrible balancing act of responsibility and mingling. After all, when you're a regular member, fleeing or being a jerk simply makes you a douche. When you're a mod or admin, fleeing or being a jerk makes you a douche with power which is something to be questioned, watched, and ultimately judged and perhaps put on a chopping block. After all, I am partly responsible for this board's welfare, and if I'm unfit for the position then how did I even get here in the first place? In fact, is all of this reluctance I have to do the job a reason why I feel I'm being such an evil lil' S.O.B nowadays?
Bah, I'll let you decide that for yourself as my whinging mojo is currently fading. I suppose that these feelings and questions are ones that a few other people in charge have naturally felt, so maybe some good will come from this later on. I have reminded myself to weigh my options better so this doesn't happen and the two of you that read this don't have to suffer through my infernal crying. Besides, things have been looking up. I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. You'll just have to wait and see what's coming....
 3:27 AM Jul 25
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