I’m not a crackpot, I saw that gnome with my own two eyes they’re fucking real and they’re plotting against us.
If you saw anyone else hanging around a garden or forest you might say they’re gardening, foraging, vibing, touching grass, or waiting until their mortal body is reclaimed by nature. But when it’s a gnome they have to be plotting?
If you treat them like you would any other magical creature, spent some time to get to know them, you’d see just how wrong you were. Spend a little less time pondering your orb and little more time out in the real world.
Besides, if you examine the statistics, you’d see that skinwalkers are the real problem. Despite making up only… But I can tell you aren’t ready to be red potioned on that yet.
Bro I am literally a skinwalker and I can’t believe you’d say something this racist to me. You know those statistics are skewed by the ministry to push their agenda.
I wonder if the crackpots ever ask themselves am I the crackpot?
Asking for a friend
Online debate is fun. I don’t care if it falls short of solving the worlds problems.
Online debate isn’t fun. I care if it falls short of solving the world’s problems.
Online debate is fun
Most online disagreements can hardly be characterized as a “debate”. Most of the time it’s some contrarian shitlord arguing in bad faith, fishing for gotchas, moving goalposts, refusing to acknowledge reality, and/or pretending your posts mean something other than what they say.
It lives in the internet it lives in the internet oh god help me it lives in the internet
I’ve had cases where I’ve moved the needle. Got someone to move from “I hate communism!!” to “I see where you’re coming from. Capitalism has problems, I admit”.
For some people, you need to let them feel heard and avoid being too antagonistic.
Some people are just trolls, though.
I managed to convert a “god put dinosaur fossils in the ground 6000 years ago to test us,” person once, although she was already questioning things so I led her to the right answer.
Having a real discussion online seems exceedingly rare. Like where each person really wants to find the flaws in their own position, to either strengthen it or learn why it can’t be.
It’s rare but it’s there, and when you genuinely find someone who will take your points and offer their perspective in return it can be a glorious thing.
"Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired.
- Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Gentleman, Lately Enter’d Into Holy Orders, 1721 C.E.
That reminds me, I really must check my inbox
The number of threads that I’ve just completely abandoned on .ml when I realize I’m trying to reason with morons is too damn high.
Going to .ml looking for an enlightened discussion is like going to the zoo looking for a glory hole.
Well, the alternative is a bunch of crackpot comments with no pushback (except downvotes) and 3-10x less actually-decent-takes
You’re never going to change their minds. That’s not the point. The point is to push back against them. So people who see the interaction will see the rebuttal and the pushback against the insanity. That’s the important part.
No, I won’t.
Fuck your “reason”, people covet their own logical prowess but in reality they didn’t come to their views on their own nor their way of seeing things on their own. In fact, it’s a weakness borrowed from others, based on flawed methodology and is what got you into the situation you’re in now.
I ain’t teaching a class, believe me or don’t, I dgaf.
99% of people are mostly interested in confirming their own myopic view, to the degree that they will commit violence to ensure it. If someone reaches out a hand, I will grab it, but that’s exceedingly rare and it’s not my day job to fish randos out of their own ignorance un-asked.
You don’t change the view of the person you are arguing with on the internet, you are putting a red flag so that would-be readers don’t fall into the rabbit hole.
My rule to live by (and this seems to trigger people online for some reason whenever I say it): never engage with comments online. I’ll post a comment, but >99% of the time there is no reason to reply. Someone has to make it abundantly clear that they are responding in good faith to warrant a response. My life has been much better since I started doing this and I would strongly recommend everyone try it out.
