Generally speaking, I argue about religion and politics.
Generally speaking, I argue with folks and within environments in which I have no reasonable chance of swaying the other to my position.
Beyond that, even if I could sway others to my position, it generally wouldn't matter in the greater scheme of things.
President Obama doesn't care what I think. Neither does Mitch McConnell. My congressional rep, Charlie Dent, could conceivably care what I think but I'm sure he's much more concerned with, for example, what the Republican House leadership or the NRA or AARP thinks.
So my goals are more limited.
First, I hope that some of my more thoughtful rhetorical adversaries will bring an information source or argument to the table that I had not previously considered. Because then it's not a complete waste of time as I will have learned something.
Second, I hope that some of my more thoughtful rhetorical adversaries will actually consider my own contribution of data or argument to the extent that they could give a rousing defense of it even if they did not ultimately accept it.
Beyond that (as well as merely providing an excuse to chat with friends, many of whom are no longer local to me) I don't expect very much from online discussion.
