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Phrases such as “in my opinion,” “I think that,” and “I believe” are ways to make your statements easier for others to accept.
Depends on what you mean. If someone writes: It is my opinion that I believe that I think the Beatles are over-rated. Well, I accept that it is your opinion that you believe that you think that. But I have not accepted your statement. On the contrary, it makes me more likely NOT to accept your statement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steiconi
"All cows are jerks." (substitute whatever you like for "cows") is a harsh statement presenting itself as fact.
The harshness doesn't come from the lack of apology "I think" or "I believe" or "it is my opinion" or "if it's all right with you" or "I'm so sorry but..." The harshness comes from one word: "jerks," which is obviously a value judgment and therefore opinion. You don't have to cloak it in further timidity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steiconi
I probably wouldn't use these phrases in formal writing, but they make discussions more polite.
The difference between the right word and the wrong word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. If the purpose of your writing is to persuade or add to the discussion, the phrases like "I think" or "I believe" or "in my opinion" are redundant and convey timidity. We all have nametags identifying our posts. It's a pretty safe bet that anything you write is your opinion. No need to state the obvious. Otherwise we're all going to be so afraid of offending that we're going to start writing:
I am writing on my keyboard on an Internet connection in a public discussion forum to state my own personal opinion that I believe that I think beets are gross, if that's okay with you, but if it's not I completely understand and apologize on the offchance that I might have offended you or your family and do hereby humbly apologize.
Or we could write:
Beets are gross.
If you disagree, that's great! Bring it on. Make your case. Convince me.
So I stand by my previous statement: Steven Greer is a kook. Is he an entertaining kook? Sometimes, yeah. Do even the kookiest kooks occasionally make a valid point. Yup.
Depends on what you mean. If someone writes: It is my opinion that I believe that I think the Beatles are over-rated. Well, I accept that it is your opinion that you believe that you think that. But I have not accepted your statement. On the contrary, it makes me more likely NOT to accept your statement.
The harshness doesn't come from the lack of apology "I think" or "I believe" or "it is my opinion" or "if it's all right with you" or "I'm so sorry but..." The harshness comes from one word: "jerks," which is obviously a value judgment and therefore opinion. You don't have to cloak it in further timidity.
The difference between the right word and the wrong word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. If the purpose of your writing is to persuade or add to the discussion, the phrases like "I think" or "I believe" or "in my opinion" are redundant and convey timidity. We all have nametags identifying our posts. It's a pretty safe bet that anything you write is your opinion. No need to state the obvious. Otherwise we're all going to be so afraid of offending that we're going to start writing:
I am writing on my keyboard on an Internet connection in a public discussion forum to state my own personal opinion that I believe that I think beets are gross, if that's okay with you, but if it's not I completely understand and apologize on the offchance that I might have offended you or your family and do hereby humbly apologize.
Or we could write:
Beets are gross.
If you disagree, that's great! Bring it on. Make your case. Convince me.
So I stand by my previous statement: Steven Greer is a kook. Is he an entertaining kook? Sometimes, yeah. Do even the kookiest kooks occasionally make a valid point. Yup.
Sometimes we do things to make the moderator happy. Sometimes when you don’t use —let’s use the term modifiers — in front of your opinions, the moderator gets a lot of nasty DMs from other people. And then she gets really annoyed. And then the original poster gets annoyed because he gets piled on. Which makes the moderator get more nasty DM’s.
I’m trying to make this a nicer safer place, but if you guys don’t care well then go at it. When it all falls apart and I have to bring down the ban hammer, out you go.
Let me tell you guys something. I’m pretty lenient. My lack of belief in any of this stuff doesn’t make me a bad moderator. The fact that I kind of have a background in this stuff makes me understand where you’re coming from.
The other thing is if skeptics stop posting, this forum goes away. Because there will be no activity. What’s the point? Honest to Pete if you guys have nobody to fight with, there will literally be no point to posting. Post one: Hey look I saw a ghost! Second post: cool — end of conversation.
Frankly if you look at the ages of the people who are posting here, forums are dying breed. This is something that in 10 years is probably going to go away. So many of them already have.
And that’s why I also have to keep a firm eye out on people who are trolling. When somebody brand new comes in here I keep a good eye on them. Have you ever noticed how many one hit wonders we get? They are coming here to start trouble and when they don’t get the response they want, they don’t bother coming back. It was another moderator who filled me in on how many more one-hit posters we get on this forum rather than others..
__________________ Solly says — Be nice!
Last edited by Tallysmom; 07-18-2022 at 01:11 PM..
Or does it? Has anyone ever tested if ghosts can access the Internet?
Maybe if we all take our laptops into a dark basement?
Have you not watch the CBS comedy Ghosts? I think it’s really funny. And apparently I’m not alone because they renewed it.
According to that show, it takes a great deal of effort, but one of them can actually move the keys on a keyboard, to type. And it takes FOREVER!
It was based on a British show, and I tried to watch the British show because I liked a couple of the people that were in it but it did not work for me. Which is strange because I really like British comedy.
They did somewhat Americanize it. I think that might’ve been the issue, one of the characters in the British version was almost like British panto….
Mama, please! I been watching GHOSTS since only the Brits knew about it.
But yes, I am a huge fan of the original British GHOSTS. Much to my surprise, I ended up really enjoying the American remake. I can't say I liked it as much as the original, but as remakes go, it's quite good.
The thing the original has that the remake hasn't (yet) managed to pull off: Tugging on the heartstrings. While the British original is extremely hilarious, it also has really poignant moments, and every one of the ghosts (event pantsless Julian) has moments that will have you wiping away a tear.
Mama, please! I been watching GHOSTS since only the Brits knew about it.
But yes, I am a huge fan of the original British GHOSTS. Much to my surprise, I ended up really enjoying the American remake. I can't say I liked it as much as the original, but as remakes go, it's quite good.
The thing the original has that the remake hasn't (yet) managed to pull off: Tugging on the heartstrings. While the British original is extremely hilarious, it also has really poignant moments, and every one of the ghosts (event pantsless Julian) has moments that will have you wiping away a tear.
Sassappis does that to me. Like when he said this was like a Halloween costume he died like a couple years ago, and then he admitted he didn’t he really is 500 years old, that was like a little heart clutch. His character is such an enigma. Most of them seem to be of their time, and he isn’t. Makes him a little bit more interesting to me.
And when Pete got to see his family? Oh, that was a heart tugger!
I know I’ve said this before, but out of all the paranormal world, to me — ghosts are something that I could see as actually being real. Even though I don’t think they are.
I know I’ve said this before, but out of all the paranormal world, to me — ghosts are something that I could see as actually being real. Even though I don’t think they are.
So, how do you explain these paranormal activities then? What are the theories you believe? Are you a believer in a multiverse where everything that can happen does happen in some other reality? If so, then there are also other possibilities which will exist as well.
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If the purpose of your writing is to persuade or add to the discussion, the phrases like "I think" or "I believe" or "in my opinion" are redundant and convey timidity. We all have nametags identifying our posts. It's a pretty safe bet that anything you write is your opinion. No need to state the obvious. Otherwise we're all going to be so afraid of offending that we're going to start writing:
Solly says — Be nice!
