Quote:
Originally Posted by slatted
Am not sure when we stopped being able to challenge points of view. respectfully, without it becoming a sensitive issue and "hurt feelings" coming into play....I was always taught that that is how we grow and learn as humans....embracing alternative points of view...accepting that they exist...? Anyone know....am I alone is noticing this change?
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Funnily enough I've been thinking the same thing for a while. I suspect pet forums have a tendency to develop a 'hive mind' of sorts, whereby a collective opinion is formed which members tend to conform to, for fear of not fitting in or offending people with different beliefs.
If a novice joins here with a hybrid dwarf in a tiny cage, they will likely quickly understand the problems with hybridisation and perhaps develop a negative attitude towards it, and will also likely upgrade their cage to something around 70cm x 40cm+.
However...
If this very same novice member instead joined a different forum, they might find that people barely remark on the cage or hybridisation. They will go on to recommend the cage and share the forums general ethos. If they joined a German forum, their attitude might quickly become that you need a cage of 100cm x 50cm and that exercise balls are cruel for example.
Who's to say that any of the above ideas are right? The only way we can really explore if they are or not is through discussion, but it seems people are more likely to just conform to the idea's of whatever community, group, forum or club they join and either forget or simply not bring their own unique, important insight to the table. This is especially apparent when a member of forum X posts in forum Z and you see a considerable clash occur, instead of having a good discussion and coming to a compromise or conclusion, they generally agree to disagree and just leave the matter.