@JayHawkFanToo
It is so fun to see how reasoning from differing premises can lead to different conclusions. I grew up with this sort of discourse in my father's house, so I have never found civil disagreement uncomfortable, or uninformative.
@HighEliteMajor knows I respect him (I can only infer gender from some remarks, I don't claim to know for sure) and we learned a loooooooong time ago to agree and disagree comfortably. HEM, more than any other single poster I can recall saw the potential of building bridges across differences in order to enrich the sports discourse in online communities. I have always been very grateful HEM for that. Frankly, I don't ever recall @HighEliteMajor bitch-slapping anyone. HEM thinks it through and states the affirmative of his position clearly, and points out logical inconsistencies he finds in other positions. And admits his own when they rarely surface. Can't ask for more than that. To reiterate something I have noted in the past, the only lasting contribution I believe I have made to KU Basketball discourse is entering into a pact with HEM once upon a time to bridge differences. Opinions come and go. Positions shift and change as new information surfaces. Understanding grows. Experience adds wisdom. New blood adds vitality. But to me the cornerstone of an online community is the legacy of bridging differing opinions with respect and with a sense of a team searching for the path of understanding through thick and thin. HEM and I have agreed on so many things, and we have a good deal of agreement on the current team and where we think the future of basketball may be headed. Our disagreement over the merits (demerits) of Self's coaching late this season are simply signals that there is more to be learned and discovered about what is happening.
I am similarly proud of the way you and I have found a path through the thicket of disagreement, though our search for a relationship remains quite young.
Online communication, contrary to what the gloom and doom crowd suggest, is a great, great, great step forward despite its perils.
When postal services were created in the 1700s, or so, they dramatically augmented communication. They greatly enabled the coordination of of political, military, and business activities. I am probably the only one that thinks this, but I believe the mail service hugely augmented the romance and evolution in loving relationships among persons by expanding the range and space for amorous and affectionate exploration of feelings among loving persons. Vices were enabled also, but all innovation (technical, infrastructure, etc.) and ensuing change triggers and inevitable calculus of new benefits and costs.
It took awhile for persons to learn to adapt their writing styles from that used for personally hand delivered letters, to letters delivered through the mails. Frequency changed length and content for interpersonal communication in writing.
The mails immediately fell prey to government spying and the spying of military and business competitors, and to spying of jealous lovers and so on.
But in retrospect, the net benefit of creating the mail services were so enormous that that costs and problems were utterly worth bearing.
It is a similar situation with interactive communication on line.
It has been one of the great satisfactions of my life to participate online with so many good board rats, and to find one in HEM willing to set an example of respectful disagreement and joy in learning from each other that could act as a cornerstone in the KU Basketball Legacy.
I have always learned as much from disagreeing with HEM, as from agreeing with HEM.
I believe the import of what we are all doing here now is laying a foundation of intelligent discourse in the online medium for the next 50 years of THE LEGACY.
I believe that you, @JayHawkFanToo, are contributing, too.
I believe everyone is here.
It is imperfect.
It is human.
It is subject to virtue and subterfuge, and occasional stupidity.
It has all the beauty of human discourse and all the vagaries and misunderstandings that homo sapiens have wrestled with as they have muddled forwards for several hundred thousands of years of language usage.
There are certain instances, and realms, that one participates in, when one is most fortunate to have been alive.
The possibilities for abuse, and identity theft, and experimentation with discourse framing techniques, and set ups by special interest groups, and so on are endless even in this little online community.
But the net benefits are greater.
I am glad @HighEliteMajor is here.
I am glad everyone is here.
