Lessons re-learned after a few days of contentious and unpleasant topics on my LJ

[substitute]

1. People argue about what they came to argue about, not the topic you raised.
   
   
2. Everything is personal.
   
   
3. If you ask someone a question and they answer a different one, you have your answer all right.
   
   
4. Don't mention Canada. In any context, really.
   
   
5. Open communication is greatly overrated.
   
   
6. If you have something incredibly important to say, for Chrissakes don't. And if you must, don't do it on the Internet.