Civility

[A Theist]

I've been struck by the fact that some users of the forum felt the desire to request a section in which civility is a requirement. And I've been surprised by the discussions in the Announcement section about whether this is good or not. 

Maybe it would be interesting to hear about why we think civility is a good thing to aim for. Some are saying it's a way for bad people to avoid getting the scoldings they deserve. For me, though, I think it is worth taking that risk. 

Here are a few of reasons why:

1) Although we may disagree to a greater or lesser extent, most of us actually want to aim for the truth. In this, we are friends. Blake said, "Opposition is true Friendship." And dialogue at its best is dialectic which moves us toward better thinking, on a personal level. 

2) No doubt there are people who deserve to be scolded, perhaps punched in the face, even made to shut up entirely. But this is a not-very-famous chat room. So despite having said #1 above, I don't think we have the power to change much at all. If we are actually in fear for the country, we'd better leave this site and go to the school board meeting. Insulting our interlocutors here won't help. 

3) Insults shut down discussion, they don't accomplish anything but a tiny personal catharsis. In general, they dumb things down

4) I have been known to get angry on line and fly off the handle. But it would be better for me to practice my shutting-up skills instead.

Any additional ideas? Or am I wrong (please be kind)?

Number 3 pretty much sums up the purpose of the civility thread. It's easy to derail a discussion through insults. But with the stricter rules in place I believe the discussions here will be more challenging when you can only attack the argument rather than attacking the person who's making the argument. In this thread, you can only attack an argument with a counter argument, and evidence with counter evidence.