The Lost Art of Polite Disagreement

a reply to: PrinceJohnson

i remember a thread in which you were the third post, and all you said was "autism on display" essentially calling the op and any one who agreed with him autistic.

how about actually apologizing to that thread author in his thread, cause i thought that was pretty #ing rude of you.

I'm not very nice sometimes when I'm in a bad mood, I can't help it. It doesn't make me feel any better, but I can't control myself sometimes, sorry

originally posted by: wasaka

"There is no true happiness at the expense of someone else's unhappiness" -- Buddhist proverb.

I strongly disagree with this quote.

Regarding the Buddhist tip, The Richard Rohr book "The Naked Now", has a chapter that mentions the training of novice Tibetan monks in what is translated as the "Consequentialist Debate", the positive and negative consequences of each of the Buddah's teachings. I thought it may be relevant here and included a few paraphrased quote:

"There is no declaration of the perfect answer or the wrong answer. The novice is quite simply being taught how to weigh and discern, see and understand the good and bad consequences - and from that open field, to learn himself and learn how to wisely advise others.

Have you ever noticed that in any situation, when your ego is invested, afraid, or needy it's very hard to smile? By when the truth is not your personal possession it's very easy to smile.

The concern in Tibetan Buddhism is not to achieve a conceptually perfect answer, which then has to be defended, but to call forth a happy, loving, aware, and perceptive human being."

It's a good read!

originally posted by: Michet

Have you ever noticed that in any situation, when your ego is invested, afraid, or needy it's very hard to smile? By when the truth is not your personal possession it's very easy to smile.

I have noticed this myself.

Those who are dogmatic tend not to smile so much.
I think you nailed it when you said: "Truth is not your
personal possession" and therefore not something you
must defend. Truth speaks for itself, and does not need
dogmatic "true believers" to express it or make it known.

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor

originally posted by: wasaka

"There is no true happiness at the expense of someone else's unhappiness" -- Buddhist proverb.

I strongly disagree with this quote.

Allow me to rephrase:

One ought not find joy in the suffering of others....
...when you do, there is a cost and that cost is
the corruption of your own personal integrity
distortion of your moral compass.

Don't be a mocker, it only breeds corruption.

originally posted by: wasaka

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor

originally posted by: wasaka

"There is no true happiness at the expense of someone else's unhappiness" -- Buddhist proverb.

I strongly disagree with this quote.

Allow me to rephrase:

One ought not find joy in the suffering of others....
...when you do, there is a cost and that cost is
the corruption of your own personal integrity
distortion of your moral compass.

Don't be a mocker, it only breeds corruption.

I strongly disagree with this rephrasing.

One of the most widely used and most destructive devices on ATS that I've noted, is that of sarcasm.

Sure, well timed flipancy can be pure gold, but in the course of intelligent and civilized discussion, when a member is targeted with sarcastically veiled remarks of contempt, its a rather shameful deflection tactic.

Distasteful sarcasm is rude and counter-productive, lowering the overall quality of ATS.

a reply to: Iamnotadoctor

Perhaps you are misuderstanding the nature of happiness. Happiness is most commonly confused with sensory gratification.