You can’t force an idea to spread but you can influence its diffusion. This sentence is basic common sense to me, however as Voltaire once said “common sense is not so common”. So many times I have seen people debating for the wrong reasons because they are only trying to force it to happen rather than provoking constructive discussions.
It you have a look at what recently happened in France with the so called “national identity” debate, it is very representative of a non discussion.
If you don’t have a clear point of view, you cannot generate any debate and worst, you are only giving more room for personal subjectivity.
What has been done here reminds me of what large corporations are doing when they have lost their purpose in life, they write corporate documents using meaningless empty words trying to fill the void.
We must fight for a genuine point of view on things not necessarily the right one, but the one that seems worth fight for. When you have done this work you have solid foundations for a constructive debate.
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