Discussion night

[Marduk]

So, about once a month or so I had been participating in a discussion night with some intelligent individuals. Essentially, it was a forum where all would meet to discuss current issues, philosophical ideas, governmental and economic principles, etc.

Unfortunately, this group has sort of disbanded due to several of the organizers leaving the state, or becoming otherwise occupied. This leads me to the question at hand:

Were I to start something similar, say once or twice a month, where we could come, enjoy each other's company, eat some sort of treat, and discuss things of importance in order to propogate ideas, would anyone on these boards be desirous to attend?

[Craig Jessop]

Lorenzo Snow had similar meetings. They were called "polysophical societies." He made the word up. Congrats on continuing a dying Mormon tradition!

[NerdGirl]

Yes, but I don't think I could walk that far.

[Unit of Energy]

It would probably be good for me, although at present I am grossly uninformed on anything.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I'm assuming I would be there either way.

[krebscout]

Throw in some Texas Hold 'Em and I'm there.

[ahem.]

krebscout is officially uninvited to any and all pretentious events in the future.

[TheBlackSheep]

Whatever, I'm with krebscout on this one, Texas Hold 'Em would totally make this better. Though I'd come anyway.

[Marduk]

krebscout is officially uninvited to any and all pretentious events in the future.

Wait, did you just call me pretentious?

[mic0]

Are you surprised?

Bazinga.

[Craig Jessop]

Are you surprised?

Bazinga.

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[Marduk]

@Craig Jessop:

Have I told you that you remind me so much of your brother as to be virtually indistinguishable from him? If I didn't have evidence to the contrary, I might suspect you are indeed one and the same.

[ahem.]

krebscout is officially uninvited to any and all pretentious events in the future.

Wait, did you just call me pretentious?

Absolutely. I was just waiting to say it until I could be funny doing it.

[Marduk]

krebscout is officially uninvited to any and all pretentious events in the future.

Wait, did you just call me pretentious?

Absolutely. I was just waiting to say it until I could be funny doing it.

I suppose I'd better start drinking fine wine, and.... um... what else do pretentious people do? Live in big houses? Drive nice cars? Look down on poor/stupid/oafish/classless people? Crap, I don't think I have enough money to pull this off...

[krebscout]

krebscout is officially uninvited to any and all pretentious events in the future.

So you're not inviting me to your wedding, then?

[Wisteria]

Wow, you guys are on one.
I might come if such an event were held should it be a day that I feel like justifying the drive down.

[ahem.]

I suppose I'd better start drinking fine wine, and.... um... what else do pretentious people do? Live in big houses? Drive nice cars? Look down on poor/stupid/oafish/classless people? Crap, I don't think I have enough money to pull this off...

Yeah. Marduk, you might consider getting super rich before you try hosting these kinds of things. They require a certain... savoire faire, if you know what I mean.

Really, though, this kind of idea bothers me because... why do you need to have a special time set aside to discuss issues? If you're honestly interested in them, they will come up at game nights, or dinner parties, or kite-flying expeditions. Setting aside an evening specifically dedicated to discussing "current issues, philosophical ideas, governmental and economic principles," seems kind of pretentious to me. I know you're a deep-thinking kind of guy, and I know you're not actually trying to project some aura of intimidating intelligence. The idea of a discussion night just doesn't sit right with me on some weird level.

So you're not inviting me to your wedding, then?

Dude, my wedding is going to be a recreation of your Mega Awesome Food Fight. My wedding dress will basically be a white puffy rain slicker. You will totally be invited... you'll fit right in. (Bazinga!)

[Marduk]

Really, though, this kind of idea bothers me because... why do you need to have a special time set aside to discuss issues? If you're honestly interested in them, they will come up at game nights, or dinner parties, or kite-flying expeditions. Setting aside an evening specifically dedicated to discussing "current issues, philosophical ideas, governmental and economic principles," seems kind of pretentious to me. I know you're a deep-thinking kind of guy, and I know you're not actually trying to project some aura of intimidating intelligence. The idea of a discussion night just doesn't sit right with me on some weird level.

Because these things don't come up in conversation. I think people are off-put by conversations that become overly intellectual in social gatherings (hey, I just came here to eat food, not discuss healthcare!). The reason these worked so well is that it drew a group of like-minded individuals (like-minded meaning individuals that want to discuss things of greater worth than Justin Bieber's haircut, not necessarily that they agree on the issues). People that might otherwise be bothered when realpolitick comes up in the discussion while playing cards certainly would not be if they were informed that such would be the discussion prior to arrival (or if they were, they would not come to begin with).

So it may be pretentious, but they are still thoroughly enjoyable. And even though you live in another state (and you just called me pretentious) you are still invited.

[NerdGirl]

Really, though, this kind of idea bothers me because... why do you need to have a special time set aside to discuss issues?

I'm not Marduk, but if this were me when I was in my undergrad years trying to organize such a thing it would probably because I needed a special time set aside to be around people whom I wasn't doing homework with and who wouldn't tell me to stop distracting them when I wanted to talk about something other than my homework. It's not so much that issues can't be discussed at other events, but sometimes other events aren't happening, so you need to create one. Although actually now that I think about it, I did get into some seriously awesome philosophical discussions while observing late at night. But there were periods of time in my undergrad life where people were all so busy that no one had time for anything that wasn't school or church or a pre-scheduled social event such as this. Not so much in grad school. Much more of my time is now spent surfing the internet, talking about politics, religion (different than church), and philosophy, and learning to crochet and play the violin. I no longer have any classes, I just make graphs all day while either watching TV or talking to my office mates about stuff, and then I quit for the day and go do fun stuff. Marduk, maybe you just need to go to grad school. It's fun! Grad students love to talk about issues.

[Craig Jessop]

[quote="ahem."]

Really, though, this kind of idea bothers me because... why do you need to have a special time set aside to discuss issues? If you're honestly interested in them, they will come up at game nights, or dinner parties, or kite-flying expeditions. Setting aside an evening specifically dedicated to discussing "current issues, philosophical ideas, governmental and economic principles," seems kind of pretentious to me. I know you're a deep-thinking kind of guy, and I know you're not actually trying to project some aura of intimidating intelligence. The idea of a discussion night just doesn't sit right with me on some weird level.

[quote]

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