We were not prepared, as a species, for a device that let us come up with any opinion at all and find validation for it.
It used to be that when you had an opinion that was wrong, you’d say it out loud a number of times, and you’d notice that everyone around you would call you an imbecile and ridicule you. It would make you reassess yourself and grow as a person.
Now that societal failsafe is gone. Now people just aren’t challenged for holding the wrong opinion.
That was an integral part of growing up and maturing. We don’t have a solution for it.
Why are you being downvoted? Why are you being made fun of? Ridiculing others isn’t particularly nice. If the person you’re arguing with is a troll, move on. If they aren’t a troll, then have a civil and respectful discussion with them. If you can’t come to a middle ground where you understand their point and they understand your point, move on.
Ridiculing others is just mean. Who knows what they’re going through? It’s easy to forget people behind these texts are people too.
I hate arguments in general because time and time again, people go into an argument trying to prove their point, the other person feels their point is being attacked since they’re being told a different point so then it turns into both sides attacking the other person’s point. Like, you think they’re gonna be inclined to understand your point if you say something like, “That is a stupid point you’re making because…” All that’s gonna do is make the other person feel attacked, so they attack your points (or you), which makes an argument just a war zone where both sides aren’t trying to under each other and instead try to find anything that helps their point, like warping their words a little, or pressuring them so that they say something stupid which they can use as ammunition. At that point, no one is trying to understand each other. They’re all too busy trying to prove their point while hurting the other person’s point. Try to understand the other person. Doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. Just understand.
It’s not that they aren’t challenged for any given opinion, If you go into the wrong place you still get lambasted but then you’ll just say "oh that’s because I put an insert group here idea in an insert opposing group forum and thats why I got downvoted. The problem is how easily you can put yourself in a bubble online, compared to real life where unless you work/shop/live in the same community of like-minded people you’ll be forced to eventually come to grips with the fact that you’re one of many POV’s.
It’s hard to tell how popular or unpopular your opinion is in terms of the average person, now. Since it’s all just chatrooms online with vague numbers of subscribers, etc.
Of course, sometimes those ideas being ridiculed were “I don’t think our king, who claims Primae Noctis and whips anyone who looks at him, was actually chosen by God to rule. Gramp said he remembers when the king murdered the old king and skull-fucked him. Maybe we’re just victims of an inherently violent system?”
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
Our parents, 10 years ago “Don’t trust anything you read online!”
Parents, today: “I do my own research online!”
We were not prepared, as a species, for a device that let us come up with any opinion at all and find validation for it.
It used to be that when you had an opinion that was wrong, you’d say it out loud a number of times, and you’d notice that everyone around you would call you an imbecile and ridicule you. It would make you reassess yourself and grow as a person.
Now that societal failsafe is gone. Now people just aren’t challenged for holding the wrong opinion.
That was an integral part of growing up and maturing. We don’t have a solution for it.
That’s why rather than trying to change people’s mind on the internet, I’ve resorted to just ridiculing them instead.
How constructive of you.
hOw cOnSTrUCtIvE oF YoU
You ever try to change a Trumpers mind you fucking rag doll?
Why are you being downvoted? Why are you being made fun of? Ridiculing others isn’t particularly nice. If the person you’re arguing with is a troll, move on. If they aren’t a troll, then have a civil and respectful discussion with them. If you can’t come to a middle ground where you understand their point and they understand your point, move on.
Ridiculing others is just mean. Who knows what they’re going through? It’s easy to forget people behind these texts are people too.
I hate arguments in general because time and time again, people go into an argument trying to prove their point, the other person feels their point is being attacked since they’re being told a different point so then it turns into both sides attacking the other person’s point. Like, you think they’re gonna be inclined to understand your point if you say something like, “That is a stupid point you’re making because…” All that’s gonna do is make the other person feel attacked, so they attack your points (or you), which makes an argument just a war zone where both sides aren’t trying to under each other and instead try to find anything that helps their point, like warping their words a little, or pressuring them so that they say something stupid which they can use as ammunition. At that point, no one is trying to understand each other. They’re all too busy trying to prove their point while hurting the other person’s point. Try to understand the other person. Doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. Just understand.
It’s not that they aren’t challenged for any given opinion, If you go into the wrong place you still get lambasted but then you’ll just say "oh that’s because I put an insert group here idea in an insert opposing group forum and thats why I got downvoted. The problem is how easily you can put yourself in a bubble online, compared to real life where unless you work/shop/live in the same community of like-minded people you’ll be forced to eventually come to grips with the fact that you’re one of many POV’s.
It’s hard to tell how popular or unpopular your opinion is in terms of the average person, now. Since it’s all just chatrooms online with vague numbers of subscribers, etc.
Of course, sometimes those ideas being ridiculed were “I don’t think our king, who claims Primae Noctis and whips anyone who looks at him, was actually chosen by God to rule. Gramp said he remembers when the king murdered the old king and skull-fucked him. Maybe we’re just victims of an inherently violent system?”
I agree with everything you said except for this. Opinions are never wrong since they’re subjective, they’re just fucking stupid.
What if my opinion on peanut butter is that it tastes like apples.
Ironically, that mindset predates the internet.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
He died in 1992.
One year after the World Wide Web was made public. Coincidence?