Hal,
Perhaps I'm being too optimistic to believe that one can have positive, dynamic effects on people's opinions via posts on SI threads. But I don't think that should stop anyone from asking, arguing, attacking, and all those other things, good and bad, that (ideally) can be said on the internet. I include "ideally", because there most likely will always be some censorship on the internet.
I doubt there's any one solution. I think everyone is an individual. Some people may reconsider if they are ignored. Some may re-think when they are attacked or put under "peer" pressure. Some may (although I hope not) never change. As to whether any of this really "helps"... I go back to the Martin & Malcolm idea. Could Martin Luther King, Jr. accomplish what he did without Malcolm X trying to accomplish more extreme things? Could Malcolm have been as far from the center as he was without Martin shifting the center?
Greg |
