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www.africaspeaks.com/articles/debating.html
Debating on our Forums
There are many issues that we deal with on our forums. People reason on their Christianity, some reason on Bible issues, on Haile Selassie, on political issues, others on indigenous spirituality and others on racism, colourism and gender biases. People have always been free here to debate different issues and to express their opinion on the issues within the rules and regulations of these websites. There are several ideas that people express that the moderators may not agree with, that other posters may not agree with, even those who visit and read but do not post may not agree with, and so we reason and debate them. However, the one common thread that we demand and expect from posters is good conduct and that they do not disrespect those who have taken their own time and resources to establish this medium for learning and reasoning, or other posters who have also taken their time and energy to share and learn here. We do our best to ensure that this does not happen and we use our discretion and judgement. For many, the place that they learn and reason is as sacred as a temple or church may be for others in orthodox religions. The space deserves respect.
It is not unusual that when a poster feels cornered, exposed or cannot win in a debate that their conduct becomes filthy. They usually then attempt to either distract from the debate by flinging personal insults, or introducing side issues, and as a last resort for a martyr-like way out they pull a stunt so ludicrous and unacceptable that they get kicked off the forums, allowing them to insinuate, or state outright afterward that they were removed for their views or because they did not agree with the moderators. Some have even done much to try to destabilize us from behind the scenes. We certainly have no time for these games and no desire to pander to peoples desires for martyrdom. We will, however, protect the sanctity of the reasoning space and people who breach the rules of good conduct will be removed. Either way it suits our purpose and theirs.
I am sure no one here can state that any member of this company has engaged in any missionary type activities attempting to convince anyone to think like us or to join us. Our views are ours. While we do share them for the purposes of education, development and the improvement of all people, we certainly are not waiting on the validation of 'converts' and blind believers. It has also been stated before that we sound alike, think alike, we defend each other or we have the same ideas on things. Well if people find this somehow unacceptable that is their right. People have tried in many ways to unite for a common goal to make progressive moves in society and within their own selves and often times the very issues we debate here trips them up. They then wonder why they do not succeed. Maybe they should look harder at their own lives and endeavours and what they may be doing to advance the causes that they hold dear. Maybe they should examine closely the issues that prevent them from working together and the issues that keep cropping up. Maybe if they do that honestly they will learn something. Maybe they will find the real reason for their disenchantment and hostility and why they may not attain the goals that they desire.
People are free to establish other forums that focus on issues that THEY find important, (which they do) or find other websites/ media that are more focused on issues that they find important (which they do), but they really cannot expect to come here and whine about the issues that we profess or our stance on them. That is just crazy and rude. It is like going into someone's home; they have not specifically invited you but you are welcome there, and then you want to criticize how they run it, attempt to dictate how it should be run and then trash it, mess it up and abuse them when you cannot get your way. Well certainly people would not tolerate that in their homes so why would they expect us to tolerate it here? That kind of unreasoning is just crazy.
Anyway, at the end of the day, conduct and character are really the most important things. People can judge it any way they want, and we have our own yardstick. People can follow any religion, faith, ideology or mode of education that they wish, but if these avenues are not improving their character and their conduct then what is the point of them? They then become simply material distractions to prevent them from taking responsibility for their actions. They can easily say that they are only accountable to god, or that they will be judged by a higher power. They really do not care about the effect that their actions have on others in this material life and they really do not get that the consequences and judgement of their actions is really a very simple natural law where every action receives a legitimate reaction. It is this idea that people can do as they please, in the name of their god or ideology, in the name of the cause, without repercussions. They are content to take the easy way out and hinge their salvation on an elusive afterlife instead of on their conduct and the lessons they can learn from others right here and now. They are cool with shifting the responsibility to a god or to anyone else for that matter, once the responsibility is not theirs. To me that is a cowardly way to live that lacks real integrity. If people saw every person, every animal, every atom in the earth as their potential saviour they would act with a greater deal of caring integrity. They would also develop a much healthier respect for their own lives.
Like anything else that is material, when we strip away the props that people hold onto, their religions, their bible quotes, their nice words, their peace and love, their intellect, their money, their class, even their race and nationality, what is left is the real them, their bare bones character. It is on this that people should evaluate each other and their own selves. People can appear to be the soul of sweetness when they are comfortable, but who are they when they are uncomfortable? This is really the basis of assessing character, where people show their true mettle. People can say whatever they wish, and hold onto their illusion of choice, but at the end of the day it is like we have been saying all along – It is really all about character.
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