Interlude: Inspiring Discussions & "Views Expressed are not Necessarily the Opinion of Management!"

Although most people understand the purpose of "discussions," a surprising number seem to miss the point... In a quite well-meaning way, I'm sure.

I was working on a completely different post, but decided to toss this little "u-loggy" bit out there.

Big Sur coastline

What the Hell's he Talking About, NOW?

I pose a lot of questions in my posts; sometimes woven into the text, sometimes as a question-dump at the end.

The point isn't really that I am personally looking for answers to those particular questions... the point is that I am throwing these questions out there as an invitation to get folks to think about various topics and engage with others in a general exploration of ideas.

Why?

Well, because in my opinion the "Gentle Art of Critical Thinking" seems to be dying.

It's one of the things I have always enjoyed about so-called "social blogging:" the exchange and exploration of ideas.

Which isn't to suggest that I am not going to learn something from the process.

I'm just trying to point out that the root purpose isn't that I am "soliciting information for my own edification;" rather, I am inviting a sort of collective discourse.

It feels slightly odd and awkward that I would need to explain this... but I might as well.

The folds of a pink rose

An Intelligent Community

One of the things that impressed me about Steemit pretty much since day one is that this seems to be a very intelligent community, compared to most web gathering places.

In large part, it was discovering this attribute that led me to start a blog here.

That, and the fact that people seemed to be respectful of each other in a way that seemed far above what I have typically encountered around the web.

It encouraged me to not only start this blog in the first place, but also to resume the loosely and informally Socratic style I enjoyed in a blog named "Shades of Gray" I kept in the late 1990's — yes, more than a decade before "those books," no connection whatsoever!

The original "Shades of Gray" was actually a play on getting our little gray cells working, and the many different "shades" of thinking we have in our world. It's not about judgment, it's about curiosity and inquiry.

That's about it, for now. Most likely, this post doesn't even apply to you!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190217 23:30 PST
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