If you ask "Is it better to do X, or to do Y?", and you receive three smart answers supporting X, and three smart answers supporting Y, at the end of the day you still don't know whether you should do X or Y.
The goal of reading a site exploring a political question shouldn't be that the reader comes away with: "I don't need to think myself, the community decided that X is right, so I support X because I want to support what my tribe has chosen to support."
Ideally the person leaves with a mind that's more open than when they came.
I don't need to think myself, the community decided that X is right
This is how I accept 99% of information about the world. I have never seen an atom, never been in Paris, still believe they exist. A community I consider trustworthy about the topic has decided that they exist, and I don't have time to personally verify everything.
Getting more inputs for your independent research is great if you do have time and other resources necessary to do the research. Making the inputs public is also good, because some of the participants may have the time. But inp...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
Notes for future OT posters:
1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.
2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)
3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.
4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.