Quote:
Originally Posted by lagtight
As I noted in the other thread, it seems that MB doesn't even thoroughly read his own posts, let alone anyone else's.
In fairness to MB, he doesn't have a background that trained him in rigorous thinking and communicating, so I do believe that he fails to say precisely what he means to say a lot of the time. That is, his words aren't actually that reliable of a source of information for what he thinks.
However, there's an element of this that goes beyond simply making mistakes. Mistakes by themselves are tolerable. They ought to be fixable. However, he has never been able to confront his own errors very well. It is extremely rare that he will admit an error. And this is where things just break down.
He conveys a willingness to learn, but does not demonstrate behaviors that reflect that willingness. Facts and truth seem to mean less to him than being right. And until that changes, conversations will continue to go in this direction.
The bottom line is this: what he thinks is that he's right. And no matter what he says, you're always the one who misinterpreted him, because he's the one who is right. You're the one who is taking him out of context, because he's right. And that's how he behaves in a lot of these threads.
I think it has an extra edge when it comes to those who are religious. His open disdain for religion and the consistent tactic of framing religious perspectives in the worst possible light, and very often going further to portray them in wholly inaccurate ways is simply a matter of course for him. You actually got a hint of that in the other thread, where he made the following declaration about the particular passage from the Bible (emphasis mine):
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyboosh
**I** interpret it as a timeless instruction, applicable in all times and to all people who worship that particular god.
So regardless of what you tell him, you need to argue against the way that *HE* sees things. And even if you tell him that you don't see it that way, it literally makes no difference to him.