Believe you me
May. 28th, 2010 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sereneSo life really isn't all suck, all the time*, and I know it. One of the really nice things that's going on for me right now is my furlough from work. I decided months ago that this furlough was going to be a time for me to do some blogging and other writing, and I'm really looking forward to it. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
someotherguy is going to lend me his EEE PC (we call it the "Eep!") and I plan to use this space for the next six weeks as an opportunity to talk about my beliefs and my passions.
To begin with, my core beliefs have made several sea changes over the years. Some major ones I can think of involve my beliefs about: the existence of god(s), abortion, gun control, the objective nature (or not) of reality, and several others.
Some of these (most notably abortion and gun control) are treated as things that people will NEVER change their minds on. It's a basic assumption in many conversations about them -- maybe THE basic assumption. Yet my mind was changed substantively on these matters either during discussions or through reading and examining the topics for myself. I am interested in the process of changing one's mind via dialectical or rhetorical persuasion.snippy may recall that it was in a conversation with her that my feelings on gun control changed; she may not. But I think one reason any shift of my strongly held views of the time was even possible is that she and I both go into these "people's minds are made up" conversations *without* that basic assumption that no one (even ourselves!) will have their minds changed.
So, yeah. I want to discuss my deeply held beliefs, and I want to hear from those who want to engage the topics, and I really believe (as it were), because it's happened before, that you will have things to say about these topics that I have never heard before, or that I have never looked at with a critical and/or rational eye. And I think I will change my mind about some things. I'm really looking forward to it. My mind needs upgrading, I'm certain of it.
I will put these posts behind cut tags, but they won't be filtered, so you can point people here if you want, or not, as you see fit. I'm hoping I can do a dozen or more of them in the six weeks I'll be out of work. Let's see how it goes.
* I know I've been angsting all over y'all; apologies if it's been a bit much, and thanks ever so to those of you who offered to help me out. (And those who offered to drive me places or rent cars for me, you are the definition of "good neighbor" -- muchisimas gracias.)
I'm going to get my surgery on Wednesday, and take a train down on Thursday. I've never actually ridden on a train that wasn't BART, so it'll be fun for me, and it means I can go get horizontal and heal from this cold before I go being in my mom's airspace. She's doing MUCH better than was projected, so I feel I can do this without endangering her, though I still wish I were there yesterday, y'know?
someotherguy is going to lend me his EEE PC (we call it the "Eep!") and I plan to use this space for the next six weeks as an opportunity to talk about my beliefs and my passions.To begin with, my core beliefs have made several sea changes over the years. Some major ones I can think of involve my beliefs about: the existence of god(s), abortion, gun control, the objective nature (or not) of reality, and several others.
Some of these (most notably abortion and gun control) are treated as things that people will NEVER change their minds on. It's a basic assumption in many conversations about them -- maybe THE basic assumption. Yet my mind was changed substantively on these matters either during discussions or through reading and examining the topics for myself. I am interested in the process of changing one's mind via dialectical or rhetorical persuasion.
snippy may recall that it was in a conversation with her that my feelings on gun control changed; she may not. But I think one reason any shift of my strongly held views of the time was even possible is that she and I both go into these "people's minds are made up" conversations *without* that basic assumption that no one (even ourselves!) will have their minds changed.So, yeah. I want to discuss my deeply held beliefs, and I want to hear from those who want to engage the topics, and I really believe (as it were), because it's happened before, that you will have things to say about these topics that I have never heard before, or that I have never looked at with a critical and/or rational eye. And I think I will change my mind about some things. I'm really looking forward to it. My mind needs upgrading, I'm certain of it.
I will put these posts behind cut tags, but they won't be filtered, so you can point people here if you want, or not, as you see fit. I'm hoping I can do a dozen or more of them in the six weeks I'll be out of work. Let's see how it goes.
* I know I've been angsting all over y'all; apologies if it's been a bit much, and thanks ever so to those of you who offered to help me out. (And those who offered to drive me places or rent cars for me, you are the definition of "good neighbor" -- muchisimas gracias.)
I'm going to get my surgery on Wednesday, and take a train down on Thursday. I've never actually ridden on a train that wasn't BART, so it'll be fun for me, and it means I can go get horizontal and heal from this cold before I go being in my mom's airspace. She's doing MUCH better than was projected, so I feel I can do this without endangering her, though I still wish I were there yesterday, y'know?
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 10:55 am (UTC)Looking forward to your beliefs posts! That sounds like great thinky time.
-J
no subject
Date: 2010-05-30 12:55 am (UTC)(I've changed my mind a bunch of times about gun control and a number of other subjects.)