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With the tragic events in Oregon, there are a lot of on-line news articles on various web sites. Most of those articles have a comments section following the news article. Of course, most of the comments are clearly divided between two groups: those who say we need more gun control measures and those who say we need more gun freedoms. Ironically, the voices on both sides of the argument claim to have a common goal: reduce or eliminate these mass shootings.

But as the people on both sides continue to try to persuade the opposite side by listing their statistics, quoting their experts, using logic, telling of first-person experiences, and using passionate pleas, a thought occurred to me.

For everyone here who has ever discussed, argued, reasoned or otherwise tried to persuade an "anti" of the "incorrectness" of their position, have you ever actually personally convinced that person that they were wrong? Basically, have you ever caused anyone "on the other side" to change their mind?

I personally have never seen it. And very seldom heard of it. I'm just beginning to wonder if all the time we spend in trying to effectively present our case just comes down to that much wasted time and effort. Maybe the time and effort we put into making our case would be better spent doing something else. I'm just not sure what that "something else" would be...