I guess you have raised some intriguing question marks about my logic,
But let me answer them one by one
Saint Jimmy wrote:How do you figure that any person who is in here for a long time is a moderate person (that is, what's the correlation between wanting to learn something and being willing to accept it as true - how many Jews have read 'Mein Kampf'?)? Or that the reason we are here is to learn?
My logic tells me that (let me be more scientific)
Fact 1: Nationalistic elements tend to ignore other people opinions, and without even discussing some thing, they assume whatever they say is a fact. They usually (again high correlation issue not saying them all of them are like this) have absolute rights and wrongs and any deviation from this is not acceptable for them. They usually do not bend, and compromise.
This is a fact not in terms of absolute right (and may be fact is not the right word to use) but in more like for example there is a high correlation between income and education. Nobody can say with 100% accuracy that this person who is rich is also well educated, but statistics shows us that there is a very high correlation between the two, so we tend to accept it as a fact. (Unless you claim that statistics is not a science) So in this sense the above paragraph is a fact
Fact 2: People do get bored, and frustrated. And one reason people may get bored and frustrated is when they keep on talking and their truths is not accepted by the rest because they fail to convince people.
So combining fact 1 with fact 2 tells me that nationalistic people should get bored and frustrated in this forum much faster and easier than the rest of us. And they will simply after some time say, “Screw you. You don’t worth my time”. So this tells my logic that the more somebody stays in this forum the probability that that person is moderate increases. That was the reasoning between longevity and extremism. Not your explanation of wanting to learn and accepting as truth.
I suggest that some of us are not here to learn, but to force our opinions by persuasion, because we may consider the other side's demands as outrageous and feel the need to expose their hypocrisy... Can you prove that wrong?
No I cant. But as in fact one and fact 2 combined tells me that, these kind of people who are here simply to persuade other people but not to learn, will have a tendency to leave earlier than the rest of the people.
Of course everybody here is a) willing to learn and at the same time b) wants to persuade. They come in different quantities in their mix of reasons of being here in this forum. My logic tells me (again fact 1 and fact 2) if a person has less of a) and more of b) then unless what he is trying to persuade others are finding some inroads on the rest of us ( hardly believe that any nationalistic talk would find followers on the other nation) then they will be living this forum much earlier when they realize this forum is a waste of their time. (And yes I am assuming that nobody want to waste their time, thinking that there is value in time)
I, for one, don't find this forum very representative of what life in Cyprus would/will be like after a solution is implemented. Remember, this forum is dedicated to discussions concerning the Cyprus problem, which by its very nature is bound to cause (sometimes heated) discussions and disagreements. Theoretical discussions cannot be assumed as representative of collective community behaviors or attitudes, because reality and life have a way of distorting things seen idealistically in one's mind, sometimes for the better...
Oh, and anonymity is a big, fat bitch
(yes, I am aware that I, too, remain anonymous...)
Actually I have never said that this forum is a true representative of the rest of the Cypriots. All I have said was my logic tells me that the longer you stay in this forum, the probability that you are a moderate goes up. (I can think of some exceptions, but we are talking about general). May be what I have said is right, The forum is moderate. And alsi what you said is right too. It is not a good representative of Cyprus. The scenario is we are here moderate but the rest of the Cyprus is more extreme.
And of course we are talking about politics that raises heated discussions. But I was talking about nationalism, which inherently a political concept. The only way we can talk about political extremism is if we talk about politics.
Of course it is normal, that I may have less heated discussion about the “kuru fasulyenin faydalari” (“benefits of beans” it is an expression used in Turkish when you are talking about less important things). But I can not understand some peoples extremism in politics from that discussion anyway.
That is good. Inquisitive attitudes have always paved the way to the future. Keep it coming. I have improved my logic already with your criticisms.
