I made a change to something I wrote on my political post the other day, because the post inspired some offline communication and made me realize that I what I wrote and what I thought didn't exactly match.
That happens a lot, not just in political debates, but in focus groups, usability studies, religious discussions.
Often times, when someone argues a point or descibes how they feel about something, its the first time they've actually tried to articulate verbally that particular angle or view. What happens is that they struggle with the vocabulary they want to use to describe a thought or an emotion, and using the wrong words can confuse, anger, etc.
People don't often know how to say what they feel. That's why I like writing, and speaking of writing, I'd encourage you to check that post out. At the moment, not by design, the comments are a bit of a conservative "love-in", but that's because no one has posted any dissenting views yet. What can I do about that?