> There's a bigger world out there where
>we're socialized into this "gotcha" mentality where the goal is to
>humiliate the other into silence with back-against-the-wall questions.
But in our little world here isn't it not so hard to give someone the benefit of the doubt if you know they're not in the habit of playing gotcha?
>hence, I think, the need to reassure the other person that you really
>are interested in their answers.
But not at the risk of violating the prime directive:
"let's be civil and nice, but not to the point of obeying the rules of debate as defined by liberal blackmail (in which, discomfort caused by a challenge is seen as some vague form of harassment)."
-- Dwayne Monroe, 11/19/08