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What the hell is wrong with you two? Why are you getting so upset over one little issue about a freaking hydrogen car? You're acting as if your careers are on the line here or something, and frankly both of you are stubbornly holding opinions you just won't let go. I would suggest you both calm down...arguing like this is not a good debate strategy.
Like Ramsus said, it's more like a sparring session than a flame war. You can ask Ramsus what he gets out of it. For me, the attraction is to make an argument to a stubborn, aggressive opponent and see what I can learn. A while back his nastiness was kind of repugnant, but when I learned that he turns it off like a spigot outside of the argument and is actually a decent guy, I began to get a lot of "meta" out of the occasional spat with him.
Meta? By that I mean personality cues, interpersonal tactical feedback, that sort of thing: It helps me to understand people better. I also learn more about argument...although as you can see I didn't apply those lessons here. Doing homework takes time and energy, and with Ramsus it's usually not worth the trouble because he's so stubborn and I don't actually argue with him anymore with the expectation of winning. Instead, it's all a real-life learning exercise. The actual substance of the debate wasn't even relevant in this case--although it sometimes will be. In fact, Keith Olbermann mostly debunked this whole story shortly after it came out. (Had Ramsus done his homework, he would have found that out pretty quickly and socked it to me. Luckily, he is as lazy as he is brutish.) Were it just about the substance, I could care less about defending my position and probably would have folded my cards. Because I have a lot of engineering know-how, I knew right away that I couldn't make a decisive argument without looking at the technical details--the outlet, etc. Then again, with Ramsus even had I made an invincible argument, he probably still would have kept on fighting. Most people don't know how to concede...or don't care to.
I made a strong argument, given the cards I was dealt. I pressed hard on the fact that Mulally's actions paint the picture of a serious incident involving near-averted disaster. Implicit in that is the assumption of an ethical and thorough reporting job, a risky assumption that I was prepared to concede upon had Ramsus come up with proof (rather than hearsay) that the story was bogus. Also, I used my technical know-how to fight on the point of the danger of mixing electricity and compressed hydrogen. Lastly--which he never seemed to appreciate--I left Ramsus an instant "mutual win" button by agreeing early on that, in saying Bush "almost" blew himself up, I wasn't prepared to quantify how close "almost" actually was.
An open-minded opponent probably would have either beaten me legitimately, or sought to compromise once he or she recognized I wasn't blindly buying in to the latest Bush bash. Ramsus, bless him, chose ego-driven tactics. He probably knows he can't beat me with egotistical fallacies, rhetorical flourishes, and sheer force of presence, and he definitely didn't know that I have extensive knowledge on the subjects of both engineering and journalism (to his misfortune), but he
did know that he was not happy with what I was saying, and he chose to keep on fighting. I chose to keep on fighting too--although I'm finished now, my smarmy scam having been exposed in this little documentary post.
I'm just a few months shy of 25. I was arguing on forums before most of you learned how to write, let alone write compellingly. When it comes to online message board fights, I have been there and done that. Plus, my ego is way too huge to be satisfied with the fawning adorations of a few bumbling message board idiots. Thus, I am generally not the sort of person who gets drawn into pointless and petty forum spats any longer. When I might seem to, you should reasonably expect that I have other motives. So, your concern is appreciated Kyronea, but don't worry about me.
As for you, Ramsus, I concede. You win. Then again, you're late. I won a number of posts back. =)
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