Quite a shame how people respond

[thesummerqueen]

I'd also like to say:

Know your audience. If you walk into a room and state an opinion, you better be able to back that shit up IMMEDIATELY, or face the embarrassment when those who are in the room tear you a new one for it. I don't walk into my boss's office with an opinion or decision without having a damn good reason for saying it. He knows a fuck load more about accounting than I do. I wouldn't walk into a botanists office and tell them how to do their job. They have a degree - I'm just a schmuck who likes to dither around with plants.

Unless and until you know the mental capacity and education of your audience, coming in and making assertions is stupid and dangerous. Sort of like the sword guy in the "nut" thread telling me to "read Holy Blood, Holy Grail" when I asked him for some sort of back up on his statement. I've already read that book. He didn't ask respectfully if I had. He just assumed I hadn't because I didn't believe him outright. Can you understand how condescending this is? This happens all the fucking time on this forum. I'm still mad at how jstrodel treated missluckie in this fashion.

We have some incredibly knowledgeable people on this forum who are more than likely never showing anyone more than the edges of what they know. And we have some incredibly ignorant-ass people who come visit this forum who think they have all the answers, and who get immediately frustrated because they didn't think through the fact that they came onto a forum of atheists who are more likely to be skeptics and rationalists and have no time for their bullshit.