[Don Salmon]

You know, I’ve been in dialog groups since the 1980s. It’s hard work and takes significant maturity. The very first, the absolute ground rule of all dialog (and keep in mind, I was trained to lead dialog groups by an expert Buddhist teacher who researched over a dozen forms of dialog over the course of several years in a doctoral program) is you have to demonstrate a willingness to express the “other” side’s viewpoint before criticizing it.

Based on everything you’ve written here, starting from your particularly pugnacious initial comment, i would say you’re not ready for the first class in how to engage in dialog.

I was hoping, based on your obvious desire to write sincerely about this, you might be willing to at least attempt to look at your inability to approach a dialogic view, but – as I’ve often encountered before when people claim to want to engage in dialog who aren’t ready for it – you’ve simply used this desire as a pretense to defend a one-sided position, and ultimately, the ultimate anti dialog stance, prove you’re right and the other is wrong.

And not even prove – since you haven’t even once attempted to engage in rational interaction – basically – to have an excuse to push one perspective without demonstrating even a remote interest in ascertaining what others think and feel, much less even the possibility that there might be some legitimacy in another perspective.

I hope I’m wrong, but so far, you haven’t given us much hope that you may have some sincerity and want to develop some actual, concrete dialogic skills