Mob Mentality On Chatboards

[Kurri17]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Not trying to be a jerk because I can sympathize but when you start a thread, you invite people to comment. You take the good with the bad.

This comment touches on my thoughts surrounding this topic. The volume of my posts is very small, and that is because if anything I want to say involves an opinion of any kind, it will invariably get responses which are argumentative, critical, or just smart ass, and usually poorly written at that. It seems too many people don't understand that opinions are not facts, and we should all be able to communicate respectfully. My ego is not so big that I think my opinion is right, and everyone else is stupid. If I can't respond, and perhaps question or disagree, in a respectful manner is a way which adds to a discussion, then I need to keep my mouth shut, and it is my opinion that others should too.

I once was the foreman on a jury. The gentlemen in question clearly committed all three offenses against the law of which he was accused. However, in coming to a consensus as a jury, there was one abstaining vote on one of the charges. Through lengthy, but thoughtful discussion, we finally found the heart of the concept and the verbiage by which the rest of us understood that juror's point, and reticence to convict on that charge. He was right. What had seemed so clear to the rest of us initially, through further examination, wasn't so cut and dried in the language of the law. Yes, he clearly did it, but in the language of the law it could not be deemed a certainty. It was a powerful moment, and one which I always try to remember when my opinion perhaps differs from others. I wish others would have a moment like that.