an argument is more than just that thing your parents do after your dad comes home drunk from the bar. despite what some people think, an argument is not inherently childish or silly. if you are childish or silly, you will probably come up with childish or silly arguments.

an argument is when you make a claim and have statements which support that claim. to use mitoko as an example, she said "All you want to do is argue and I wont stoop to such a puny level". however, much to my dismay, following that sentence she went on to form an argument. an argument is more than just your opinion of what an argument is. and, as shocking as it may sound, your opinions can be wrong.

"In this case you just want to prove someone wrong"

if you present one point of view, and someone presents another view and they have supporting statements which you cannot refute, how are you right? if you believe that you are right, you need to explain how you are right. if you cannot explain that you are right, then are you right?

the following statement did not strike me as being particularly noteworthy when i first read it, because its very common sensical. however, to those lacking in the common sense department, for your reading pleasure:

"just saying “I disagree” isn’t good enough ... if you don’t know, can’t explain, or just have bad reasons for disagreeing; then you don’t disagree."

having an opinion is great, for you. your opinions don't mean much to other people, if you can't explain why you have a particular opinion, expect people to call you things like "wrong".

"Don't take your problems out on people online. It is really stupid. Not only stupid, but also disrespectful. Your rudeness..."

those are all claims, unsupported claims. if you want to show that someone or something is stupid, rude, or disrespectful, you would have to *gasp* form an argument and have statements that support those claims. without that support, there is no reason to believe that the claims are true.

and, while i'm at it:

"I can tell just by the way you talk how old you are, male or female, and how you act in real life."

just when you thought a post could not get any more rediculous, it does! much of this information is on the internet. you can find a picture of me which gives you a decent idea of my age and gender.

and the mention of "real life" there is great! you realize in the following paragraph you said "This is the real life. This is just another way of communication."? however, not all places in real life are the same. when i'm at church, i tend to be quiet and pray. when i'm in class, i don't pray so much. both real life, both different ways of behaving.

don't even bother mentioning how old you think i am, what gender i am, or how i act in real life. its a shallow opinion with hardly any justification and has assumptions that are very flawed. i can laugh at you as though you had stated what you think, this way you don't have to actually say it, but it will be just like you did. haha.

it seems that you do not want to argue because you are terrible at forming an argument. i don't blame you. i would hate to play golf because i'm awful at golf. however, controversial comments do not lead to golf games, they lead to arguments ;-)

blog posts shouldn't have 300 comments. if you want to chat, use one of the many chat programs that BYOND has.