A note about how to use this blog

A lot of controversial things are said on this blog, both by its author and by various commenters on all sides of any given issue. But sometimes people (again, on all sides) are too quick to impute the worst motives to others with whom they disagree. This makes for unpleasant reading, and inhibits conversation. I don't want to discourage dissent here, but I do want to encourage everyone to resist the urge to assume the worst about others as you're composing your response. Speaking for myself, much of the time I float ideas or notions about which I'm merely curious, to see what others think, and in turn to have my thinking on the topic shaped by what people here say. I don't know everything, and don't pretend to. I don't know most things, and don't pretend to. But I am curious about a lot of things, and I know many of you readers are too. It's no fun if people feel inhibited about voicing their curiosities, their doubts and their tentative conclusions out of fear of someone jumping down their throats. Again, that discourages conversation.

It would help if readers approached this blog not as an ideological battlefield, where you are obliged to beat the crap out of those who disagree with you, but rather as an opportunity to convince those who disagree that they're wrong. It would also help if readers approached this blog as an opportunity to have their own minds opened to some things they'd never considered. I, for example, have learned a lot about transgenderism from celtic dragon critter; I can't say that I understand transgenderism, but i have experienced through this blog the reality that there is an actual person there, a likable person, not an abstraction, and I like being in dialogue. I think that's a good thing, and I want to encourage both myself and you to incline more to that attitude.

I know that we will have heated exchanges here in the future. It's inevitable, and a blog that contained no controversy would be dull. Once again, let me underline that I don't want you readers to be shy about dissenting from me or from each other. Still, if we all came at this blog seeing it not as an opportunity to kick each other's butts, but as a jumping-off point for civil discussion and vigorous but respectful argument, we'd all have more fun here.