JeffPo's Soapbox Page

JeffPo's Soapbox Page

Last update: 04/15/10

Besides astronomy, another passion of mine is open debate. Make that intelligent, logical, civil, open debate. Not only do I have strong opinions about various topics but I also love to debate just for the sake of debating. While some may view this as a waste of time saying, "why debate if you're not seeking the absolute truth", I think of it as a training or learning exercise. You get to see how other people form and frame their thoughts and arguments. It can help you strengthen your methods and reveal any weaknesses in your logic. It helps prepare you for when you actually do debate for the "absolute truth".

Mr. Spock is the famous character from the Star Trek series that abhors emotion and stresses clean logic. While I can be quite emotional and have very strong feelings on certain topics, I try to use pure logic in my debates and articles. Emotions will slip in from time to time, but I try to limit their influence. The main reason for this is that emotions are very subjective, varying from person to person while logic is something that has a better chance of being uniform. Want to test or strengthen your logic and debating skills? One of the best ways I know is to write a paper that supports a view that in reality you don't support!

The articles below are various topics that I have a strong opinion on or that has come up in discussion between friends (in person or via the Internet). Be warned that some of them are quite controversial and if you're an emotional person, you might be upset by them. But they are my viewpoints. You can agree or disagree. Send me email if you feel so inclined. And if you have a particular subject you want to talk about but that you don't see represented on my webpage, let me know. I'll definitely respond via email and if it's an important enough issue (to me), I'll post an article on it.

Again, keep in mind that the articles below might strike a nerve with those that are emotionally charged about the issues. But this is my soapbox, which means it's my platform for stating my opinions.

The Soapbox Articles

The Tea Party NEW!

Honoring Confederates and Roland S. Martin demonstrates more racism NEW!

Just SAY NO to John Edwards

Ebay Headaches

Earthlink: Worst Customer Service Ever!

Virginia Tech Massacre

Vote Democratic!

Nuclear North Korea (with thanks to President Bush & Republicans)

Is Robert Novak a god?

Should Flag Burning be Banned?

The Lost Art of Debate