Karen, I don't think much about particular posters' personal views...
on a topic such as abortion. I may notice whether a given person seems to be arguing the pro or anti side, but not much more than that, not the nuances or shadings. It's not that I'm not listening, it's more that I don't care. When I post myself, my objective is to state, or argue, issues, whether I am originating them, or responding to what someone else has said. I just never think of interactions here as having anything to do with what I may think about a poster, personally. I don't know anyone here, personally. If someone mentioned a familiar alias from this thread, and asked me, "How does he/she feel about abortion?" I would fail miserably at replying accurately. No one here has asked me how I feel about abortion, and I have not stated how I feel about it. Nor do I ever intend to, at least not here.
So for me, interactions on this thread are very impersonal. It distresses me greatly when anyone here thinks that because I may attack a stated position on some issue, I am thus attacking the poster as a person (as happened when the discussion was on homosexuality). I don't know how this can avoided if we are going to have open, frank discussions on issues. Not unless we come up with a standard disclaimer to attach to every post.
JC |
