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questions v. statements

aybala50's picture
Submitted by aybala50 on Sun, 04/15/2012 - 8:55pm

I haven't been able to stop thinking about the significance of making a statement versus asking a question. Personally, I feel more comfortable questioning something rather than making a statement about it. I do feel that it is easier to question things because I never feel fully certain about what I am saying. Will I offend anyone? Do I really know what I'm talking about? Am I making a fool of myself? 

Besides these questions that roam my brain I feel that the biggest reason for my tendency to question is because it is much more interesting! If life consisted of statements and we didn't question even those things that we feel certain about, how would change come about? How would we learn? 

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rayj's picture

questioner

Submitted by rayj on Mon, 04/16/2012 - 3:37pm.

I'm much more a questioner than statement-maker, but I also, in thinking about this, know there are moments when I do make STATEMENTS, need to make statements, although I guess I would say they are statements that are open to questoining, and in that, they feel more comfortable, for me. A friend and I talk about this a lot, that we feel more comfortable making statements to each other because we know that the other doesn't assume what we say is some kind of decided fact, it's just easier sometimes to make a statement, or we want to see what it sounds like, feels like, to say something definitively. I think the exercise of statement making can be constructive, when it is done in a space that recognizes that none of what we say is eternal or final, and maybe we would have been more comfortable with that exercise if we had made that known and clear from the outset. 

michelle.lee's picture

I think there is merit in

Submitted by michelle.lee on Mon, 04/16/2012 - 1:17am.

I think there is merit in both forms.  I just think that the significance of asking a question is not as celebrated as making a statement.  In my opinion, it's underplayed a lot more.  And I'd like to ask why.  Why is making a statement seen as a more excepted form than asking questions?  I feel much more comfortable asking questions in this class than I am in my other classes.  I often feel like in my other classes I need to prove a point rather than explore a topic.  I think if both forms were valued equally, there would be a steady flow of statement making and question asking.  Statements would lead to questions which would lead to other statements and other questions and so on and so forth.  

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