(May 2, 2012 at 7:08 pm)Stimbo Wrote: With me, it depends on the situation. Over here such opportunities for live debate are few and far between, and I don't go looking for them. In the past, when I was more likely to encounter these situations (which I don't anymore; an involved story) I would often feel my temper flaring to the point where I knew I'd have to walk away or do/say something regrettable. My Sam was well aware of this and would grab my arm and steer me in some other direction if she spotted someone preaching in the street or whatever. The one thing guaranteed to set my explosion off is the smug, condescending smile that they all-too-often wear when they realise they have no other leg to stand on, usually with some biblespam and a "well, I'll pray for you to find the truth" or similar as a bonus feature.
If my opponent is more open to hearing me out, even if they don't agree with what I'm saying, and they don't press my detonation button, we might have an interesting exchange of views. It's quite startlingly rare for that to be the case, I have to say.
I so wish I had someone to do that for me; alas, all the women I seem to align myself with are always religitards, so they are usually throwing stones from the other side. It's that smile though, you are right. Why I let it get under my skin so much, I don't know.
