I’ll have to think about that one.

None whatsoever! :-/
I am who I am, that’s just me!……………..

I just learned that legal and just is not one in the same. However, nothing needs to be reexamined, modified or changed. It just leaves room for opinions to those that have a problem with the law. In some areas the opinion is limited further, due to defamation.

As far as changing my mind, I’m not so sure. I’d really have to examine some old questions.

What I have gleaned is the knowledge behind an opposing point of view.

There are a few here that have enlightened me as to why they believe certain things. It hasn’t necessarily changed my mind as much as it has opened my mind. And in that light, I feel as thought I have gained something that I didn’t have before… that being, empathy and understanding.

Some of the ladies here are quite good at pointing out the feminine perspective. I’m always grateful to embrace my feminine side whenever, wherever I can find it.

Tough question.

I can’t remember a specific instance but I have heeded many an advice and I have gotten more clarity about certain characteristics of mine.

Yeah that’s right… What ^she^ said.

This is a tough question. After some thought, I’m pretty sure that Fluther has reinforced some of my previously held opinions, but not actually changed my mind in any way that I can recall immediately.

I am set in my ways about my beliefs and views. I do, however, heed advice very well. I don’t try to change people beliefs and a debate to change them. I just say what I have to say. You can look at with new meaning or take it with a grain of salt.

Do questions older than 3 weeks get erased? Cuz, I remember asking a question about the physics of the ever expanding universe which some explained to me in full detail. I can’t give them credit now because the post is gone :( But thanks whoever you were.

One of my most fundamental beliefs is currently under review and part of the reason is because of a question I asked here on Fluther. I’m talking about my spiritual beliefs. I’m not a Christian, but I am a believer in a quirky spiritual side of life. I’m thinking and wondering and reading and exploring about the veracity of my beliefs right now.

I’ve stood corrected on a number of facts, but I am hard pressed to think up beliefs or opinions that have changed as a result of discussions here.

The closest and most significant example might be @chris6137’s (dreadfully, at the time) consistent posts about Ron Paul and conspiracy topics prior to the election, although it wasn’t exactly his words that got me over the fence so much as happening to read about those ideas independently and then finally understanding what the hell he was talking about.

Changing belief is very much like the parable about the master overfilling the apprentice’s cup of tea. One generally cannot accept new ideas if they are already full of their own.

I have learned that Atheism is alive and well. I used to think it a rarity.

Nowt!

None that I can think of.

There have been a few topics in the General section that have lead to busting some life-long myths about nature and medicine. Otherwise, it’s been eye-opening and refreshing to hear other people’s viewpoints or that there are people who feel the same way I do.

I haven’t changed any core values or beliefs but I have gained new knowledge and understanding about issues of gender and the fluidity of sexual identity, the concept of race, and the struggles of the obese. Although I have always been liberal, I am now less judging of others and more sensitive.

@Ben_Dover That could be because everyone knows it’s a silly myth. If masturbation caused blindness 98% of adults would be blind, and the other 2% would do their best to pretend they could see.

@FutureMemory Please don’t use such small print. I can barely see now as it is.

OK, that was funny.

Has the hair started to grow on your palms yet?

I have been corrected many times on small matters, but Fluther just reinforced my major beliefs and values. Maybe great minds do think alike ^^b

All I know is the more I lock horns with @Simone_De_Beauvoir , the more I fall in love with her.

@Blackberry that’s a good point, actually. I don’t think any of my beliefs have really changed since I’ve been here, but some have been reinforced.

@FutureMemory No, that was ragingloli’s problem.
@Blackberry Way to schmooze ‘em! You should reach 20,000 in no time.
@ChazMaz I heard her say she wished you would drop over sometime around 3am…

@Dewey420 You can easily find a question that you’ve asked in the past by going to your own profile and scrolling down to the “questions” area. Click on “browse” and you’ll see every question you’ve ever asked.

My muscle car is actually a sports/luxury coupe. I thought I understood cars…

@syz

This actually brings up an issue that I had with finding certain questions, topics, etc. on here…I’m wondering if questions of similar caliber could be more easily linked, or on similar topics could be linked, in a manner for easier searching. People may actually find their opinions changed more often if these are consolidated and easy to see (I’m only going to look for so long before I give up). I posted this question about that just now, and am discussing it here both because I think (1) I think consolidating some questions would strengthen their ability to show or change opinions, (2) it goes to the structure of how Fluther opinions might be changed, and (3) shameless, shameless self promotion.

I’m usually open to eveyone’s opinion and take that into consideration. I’ll usually keep my own idea.

Almost exactly what @janbb said up there ^^.

None. if you disagree with me, you are all just wrong. ~ :D

In all seriousness, I’ve been drawn to reconsider my beliefs about standards in discourse – spelling, grammar, register, etc… – but I consider the results to be a refinement rather than a paradigm shift.

None.

I have been struggling with the Ground Zero Mosque issue. The fluther discussion has me reevaluating how I stand on it.
I still find it distasteful, but now agree they have the American given right to build it.

@syz thanks . I guess my question was deleted then.. cuz it’s lost forever

I’m not here for debate. I’m here to hear what others think and to share my own experiences and thoughts. I am not trying to change anyone’s mind. I am just trying to explain my way of looking at things, and to understand other people’s way of looking at things.

Also, I don’t have beliefs. I just have theories for which there is a lot of or not so much supporting evidence. I’m always on the lookout for other evidence that would cause me to modify my theory, and I find that regularly at fluther.

If my private messages are anything to judge by, I have also influenced others to see things in ways new to them. No debate required. Just a willingness to hear a story. That’s all I want. And I get it—although often in too much profusion, so it’s hard to sift through it all.

@Ben_Dover Uh oh. Sounds like you’re about to be sent to the Principal’s office.

Just like Wis.dm

Haters gonna hate ~

A job’s a job…

First, I should say I’ve learned that a couple of things I’d accepted as fact were really urban legends. The 100th monkey effect is just one of them, although it did get its start as reported scientific observation. I just didn’t know it had been debunked. The one place I now find myself questioning a core belief is thanks to my friend @nikipedia. I thought I could prove there is such a ting as free will. I cannot. I now feel agnostic about it. So far, I don’t think science can prove or disprove it. Waiting is.

@Neutral I’d like to think that in going through that debate on legal = just, you sharpened your knowledge of how to defend your position on the law—and certainly steer clear of any defamatory statements when doing it. :-)

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies We’ll just have to keep working on how code could possibly have arisen from chaos without having an author. But not now.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Absolutely. I’ve gotten great advice and found obscure information I couldn’t dig out of GOogle no matter how hard I tried.

@Dewey420 They shouldn’t disappear. I can get to mine from many months ago. But you are right, the question doesn’t seem to be listed with your questions on your profile page. So you just changed my confidence that all questions get preserved.

@hawaii_jake That’s a noble journey to embark on. Enjoy the ride.

@kevbo Nice analogy. Thanks.

@Pied_Pfeffer Yes, I’ve seen a few long-held ideas turn out to be urban legends too. But I see just how hard this question is. I can’t remember what they were now. But I will know the truth the next time the subject comes up.

@janbb This is truly a great forum to gain sensitivity to struggles we haven’t personally had to fight. GA

@FutureMemory Ha! So that’s what @Ben_Dover got moderated out for.

@Ben_Dover Ha! You scoundrel. :-)

@Blackberry Obviously you are referring to me. :-)

@ChazMaz Well that’s something worth learning. Personally, the more @@Simone_De_Beauvoir changes her avatar, the more I fall in love with her. :-)

@TheOnlyNeffie I am glad to hear that some change has come of hanging with us. :-)

@Fred931 Musta been a real letdown to learn that.

@iamthemob Interesting thought. I’ll chime ion on that discussion for sure.

@the100thmonkey I doubt many will have a paradigm shift from our debates. Could happen, though. People do, from time to time.

@filmfann That’s a tough one. I’m about where you are on it. I just hate seeing it used as a political football because that is going to hand al Qaeda and the Taliban such a great recruiting tool, when the truth is that under their rule, no other house of worship than their own would be permitted ANYWHERE>

@wundayatta Well said. I like the distinction between beliefs and theories. I share that way of looking at things.

@Ben_Dover For the record, I tried to put the question in the Social Section but it was moderated to Meta.

@bob_ You had to come here to learn that? :-)

@ETpro No, it was merely reinforced.

@bob_ Thanks. Though so.

@ETpro

That…was…incredible…

I feel like I need a cigarette. Also, that might have changed my views on how I should respond to comments.

@iamthemob Thank you. :-)

I’ve changed how I write about my theistic understandings here and elsewhere.

I will admit some subjects that pique my interest are vast and complicated (just the way I like ‘em) and come up rather suddenly and true to my nature that I will engage. Some are completely new to this world and again vast and complicated to where I will learn on fly. My own ideals and belief system at my age are now pretty much etched in tungsten carbide and my thoughts and approach to these vast and complicated subject matter will be driven by these beliefs and ideals and at time to a stubborn fault.

I however am open to new ideas from other people, especially and thankfully ones smarter than I and is what keeps me here at this site.

The recent health care debate here was one such instance where I learned a lot and a time I can recall having to open my own perspective a wee bit wider on the matter.

@Cruiser (and all)

It would be awesome if people could throw in a link or two to the threads that got them thinking! Spirited debate that prevents varied viewpoints is always nice to get in on….

@iamthemob NO! I won’t and you can’t make me! ;)

If any admin is reading me, I want my universe question back please. I need it for reference. Thanks

@Cruiser that’s mad rude, yo

@iamthemob OK…I only said that in jest mostly because there are just so many to choose from!! ;)
Just for you

@Cruiser I’m happier now cause I thought you were being wack before. :-)

@iamthemob Just me being me is all…I truly am sorry for the unintended confusion!

OK, I’m not doing another wall of words to thanks you guys for all of that. :-)

@Aster I know what you mean. I think I only ever met like 3 atheists my whole life. Same with politics. Where I live I am considered by most to be very liberal but on here it seems I’m rather conservative. Go figure.

@Jabe73 Mind saying where you live—in general terms, of course. It’s probably not a good idea to get too specific on Fluther.

@ETpro Near a small central PA town. However, anywhere I’ve been atheism seems rare. I do not travel much anymore however.

@Jabe73 Aha. As James Carville so cleverly put it, “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.”

I came here believing that Fluther was a place where people with a concern about thought and change could come for both productive discussion about their opinions or beliefs and respond to reasoning regarding potentially faulty thinking, as well as light-hearted interactions of the more social nature. I accepted at face value that it was a community of thought.

I don’t believe that anymore. This thread actually proves the contrary. If the majority of the community cannot point to places where change has occurred, it is most likely that people just want to talk, and not listen.

That’s not a community…that’s a soapbox. I believe now, therefore, that this is a place for people to demonstrate their ego and prove themselves right on average…I believe it adds nothing but noise. please…if someone can show me otherwise, this is perhaps the most clear example of a belief that I would like to be shown that I’m wrong

@iamthemob Go make me a sandwich.

@bob_

And…there we go.

@iamthemob While my comment might be seen as an immature way of dismissing your concerns, I invite you to see beyond the face value to fully capture my point.

Also, I prefer pastrami.

@bob_

I would ask that you flesh it out, since I can’t do anything but assume a point where I may be actually missing it.

@iamthemob I could, but then you’d miss out on an important lesson. Give it some thought, and then get back to us.

@bob_

I’m still drawing a blank…I guess that means that the important lesson you and the others you represent is beyond me.

I’m really only getting is a superior attitude, an assumption that I need to learn something before I can be heard. Which again, just validates my concerns.

@iamthemob I’ve got your superior attitude right here, pal!

A community doesn’t have to be a “place where people with a concern about thought and change could come yadda yadda yadda”. Who died and made you Mr I-decide-the-law? A community can also be a place where people come for help, to get to know each other and joke around. You keep going on and on with your points, and you dismiss those who disagree with you as closed-minded or as not getting the question. While deliciously ironic, it’s rather annoying.

My advice: lighten up or stay in General.

@bob_

Ah! See, I actually did say that I thought it would be a place where both occurred (“as well as”). So sure, it can be. And I expected that this was both. So I never thought I was Mr I-decide-the-law…

…however, it seems like that’s all it is. I have never dismissed anyone who didn’t agree with me. I’ve always asked for more. But if you have an example of where I have dismissed anyone who disagreed with me as closed-minded or not getting the question, please point it out. I have definitely thought people weren’t getting me, and said so. I’ve definitely strongly disagreed. I’ve totally gotten uppity. But I’ve never dismissed anyone. Let alone “those.” If I have, please point it out to me. If I did, I have to do some clarification – because as long as a person is developing an argument, I try to respect that.

I do love how you level accusations about my dismissal when this, along with my other experience with how you have no problem dismissing me, is ironic without any of the delicious.

My advice: unless you’re going to engage with me, please don’t try to instruct me. ;-)

@ETpro Never heard of that guy. But a very true statement. I am still pretty sure however there are more theists (or maybe in the closet agnostics) than atheists out there, but not on Fluther.

This question on morality actually has made me reexamine some things about my approach to issues generally, as well as specifically on the topic of handgun control.

@Jabe73 I should have given you a link. James Carville—He’s a pretty interesting guy. He is a Democratic political analyst, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality. He is often a liberal spokesperson on TV. And yet he is married to and exact counterpart in Republican Mary Matalin.

@iamthemob What a warming feeling to get an answer like that. The discussion has done the same for me.

@ETpro In all fairness I know many liberal people who have very different views than those on Fluther. Is it because liberalism is more varied than conservatism? I will read that article when I have time but I have to get to bed, I’m really pushing it here but thanks for the link.

@Jabe73 There is another old saying that comes to mind. As Bill Clinton quipped, ” Republicans like to fall in line and Democrats like to fall in love.“Will Rogers put it this way, “I am not a member of any organized party — I am a DemocratI am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat.”

There are multiple stripes of conservatism. The limousine liberal conservatives of the Northeast, Rockefeller Republican sort, the Neocons, the White Supremacist, Christina Conservatives and many more. But you don’t see the Democratic Party holding massive party purges as Republicans are doing now. The Republican party has lurched far to the right in the past few years, and now seems determined to hold a litmus test on a whole host of issues. Fail just one issue, and you are a RINO and must go. The far-right white male base will do whatever is necessary in contributions, campaigning and voting to purge RINOs through primary challenges.

@ETpro Well yes, actually I forgot I brought that very point up (about Republicans today allowing little leeway) in one of my answers from one of your previous questions. Instead of there being conservatives and liberals today it is more like liberals vs Republicans or should I say Republicans vs everyone else.

Men and women being interested in somewhat different things.