MisterYudi – while it’s true that when it comes to hashkafa, sometimes there is more than one side to things, that would be part of my opinion. I would stress the side that is necessary depending on what is relevant to the specific argument taking place.
For example, I might believe that there are both good things and bad things about the State of Israel. If someone was posting that there is nothing bad about it, I would say that there is. But if someone said that there was nothing good about it, I might say that there is.
It is true that that there are people/posters who are very set in their ideology and have never tried to consider anything else and never tried to see the other side. For example, there are some who are sure that Zionism is completely good and anything the anti-Zionists say is false, and they don’t try to consider their point of view. And the opposite as well. There are people who think a harsh tactic is necessary when dealing with tznius issues or kids-at-risk and haven’t tried considering the opposite, and vice versa.
Those posters/people should certainly try to consider the other side (since as you point out, when it comes to many of these issues, there is more than one side). The problem is that your point can be misunderstood or misused if used by the wrong people. And the problem is that it is precisely those people who will be open-minded enough to follow your suggestion.
It is precisely those people who do consider both sides before reaching their conclusions who will listen to your advice and try to argue for a position that they KNOW is wrong since they are open-minded enough to have thought through the issue and to have consulted with Daas Torah and/or researched the matter BEFORE they reached their conclusion. That is actually why I directed my post to Yekke (and hadn’t said anything until then even though I had some doubts about this) – because I feel that he is someone who does seem to fall into this last category.
So your idea would be a good idea if taken by those who haven’t yet considered the other side. But I’m just wondering how likely that is to happen. And meanwhile, it is precisely those people who shouldn’t be doing it are doing it.
And while you are right that people should learn to overcome biases, I’m not sure this is the way to do it.