[MD] It's a trap

[david buchanan]

Mark said to Ron:
...Her clinging is remarkable given all the years she has been given to learn from others in this forum.  I take it as a challenge to get through the Pride she has as a defense. I can only try, and have no personal investment except that I learn new techniques in rhetoric.  The more she stays steadfast, the more I learn. ... She is a useful foil, and I learn from her some of the problems that MoQ faces. ..But, thanks for your warning.

dmb says:
That's probably the right attitude. Wish I could say I felt that way but I take a much darker view.

As I see it, reasonable people are the only people who can be persuaded by reason and evidence and reasonableness entails a certain kind of humility. It entails a willingness to doubt your own views out of respect for the authority of things like evidence and reason. Reasonableness entails a certain kind of self-reflective honesty and an open-minded willingness to alter your views in response to such authority. And so, if the purpose is to have a reasonable debate, "pride" can be a pretty big obstacle. I dare say MOST of the nonsense is nonsense of the face-saving variety. Ironically, that kind of nonsense is nothing to be proud of. It turns talking into an ego game and it tends to trivialize the (sometimes profound) substance of the issues.