Debbie
Persnickety slattern
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2001
- Posts
- 24,213
Interesting quote from this website
http://www.sfdebris.com/idiots.html
Quote,"Why I No Longer Debate Idiots
Before I begin this discussion, I suppose I should explain what exactly I mean. First of all, I do NOT think that an idiot is someone who disagrees with me. I can accept that intelligent people can have different points of view on a wide variety of topics. An idiot, therefore, is a person who continues to stand by an opinion by ignoring or knowingly misrepresenting evidence.
And this pretty much sums up the whole reason right there. But seeing as how that doesn't tell a whole lot and isn't very interesting, I'll expand on the topic. There are several reasons to not debate idiots, and I'll share them with you now.
The first reason is the return on investment. I don't know about any of you, but I don't argue to hear myself talk. I debate because I hope to learn from someone or for them to learn something from me. That is really the only point of having a discussion, to exchange information. When debating with an idiot, you don't get anything out of it. The only thing you learn is "This guy/girl/moron is stupid." And they certainly aren't learning anything. So all you're doing is wasting your time.
But, you might be thinking, at least you get the entertainment of watching them act like fools. However, while this is occassionally the case, usually their entertainment value is mediocre at best. The person is simply too stupid to realize they're acting like an idiot, and the only real audience then is yourself. What's more, the idiot will often respond in an insulting or even condescending manner, and infuriating situation to say the least. Best to just leave the idiot be.
Allow me to tell you a story to illustrate this point. Some time ago there was a man being chased by a pit bull, and he ran up a tree to get away. Only, the pit bull wouldn't stop, it kept trying to jump up and grab him. Terrified, he took a broken tree branch, one that was very large, like the size of a small log, and began hitting the pit bull on the head to protect himself. Well, the pit bull wouldn't stop. The man kept beating on the pit bull's head until it wasn't even recognizable as a dog, and it still kept on trying to get him. Finally, he killed it. The dog was too stupid to realize when to give up. The point of this story is to show that idiots, like the dog, don't realize they're getting beaten, and will just continue to do the same thing over and over and over. At first it might seem funny, but after a while it seems pathetic.
What's also bad about arguing with idiots is that you realize the truth: that your return on investment is nil, and that putting any serious time into the discussion is fruitless. From that point on, the quality of your replies diminish, and you begin just insulting the idiot. It's understandable; they are, after all, an idiot. The problem is is that now you have ceased to be the voice of reason, you're the agressor. This hurts your credibility with other potential debaters. What's more, it makes it look as if you can't effectively argue against the idiot; ouch again. So now we're in a very bad situation: not only have we gained nothing from the discussion, we've actually hurt our reputation in the process.
In short, it's just not worth it. There are idiots out there, and we've just got to live with them for now. Perhaps later on we'll find a better way to deal with them, but for right now, the best thing I've found is to just keep quiet and let them wallow in their stupidity. "
http://www.sfdebris.com/idiots.html
Quote,"Why I No Longer Debate Idiots
Before I begin this discussion, I suppose I should explain what exactly I mean. First of all, I do NOT think that an idiot is someone who disagrees with me. I can accept that intelligent people can have different points of view on a wide variety of topics. An idiot, therefore, is a person who continues to stand by an opinion by ignoring or knowingly misrepresenting evidence.
And this pretty much sums up the whole reason right there. But seeing as how that doesn't tell a whole lot and isn't very interesting, I'll expand on the topic. There are several reasons to not debate idiots, and I'll share them with you now.
The first reason is the return on investment. I don't know about any of you, but I don't argue to hear myself talk. I debate because I hope to learn from someone or for them to learn something from me. That is really the only point of having a discussion, to exchange information. When debating with an idiot, you don't get anything out of it. The only thing you learn is "This guy/girl/moron is stupid." And they certainly aren't learning anything. So all you're doing is wasting your time.
But, you might be thinking, at least you get the entertainment of watching them act like fools. However, while this is occassionally the case, usually their entertainment value is mediocre at best. The person is simply too stupid to realize they're acting like an idiot, and the only real audience then is yourself. What's more, the idiot will often respond in an insulting or even condescending manner, and infuriating situation to say the least. Best to just leave the idiot be.
Allow me to tell you a story to illustrate this point. Some time ago there was a man being chased by a pit bull, and he ran up a tree to get away. Only, the pit bull wouldn't stop, it kept trying to jump up and grab him. Terrified, he took a broken tree branch, one that was very large, like the size of a small log, and began hitting the pit bull on the head to protect himself. Well, the pit bull wouldn't stop. The man kept beating on the pit bull's head until it wasn't even recognizable as a dog, and it still kept on trying to get him. Finally, he killed it. The dog was too stupid to realize when to give up. The point of this story is to show that idiots, like the dog, don't realize they're getting beaten, and will just continue to do the same thing over and over and over. At first it might seem funny, but after a while it seems pathetic.
What's also bad about arguing with idiots is that you realize the truth: that your return on investment is nil, and that putting any serious time into the discussion is fruitless. From that point on, the quality of your replies diminish, and you begin just insulting the idiot. It's understandable; they are, after all, an idiot. The problem is is that now you have ceased to be the voice of reason, you're the agressor. This hurts your credibility with other potential debaters. What's more, it makes it look as if you can't effectively argue against the idiot; ouch again. So now we're in a very bad situation: not only have we gained nothing from the discussion, we've actually hurt our reputation in the process.
In short, it's just not worth it. There are idiots out there, and we've just got to live with them for now. Perhaps later on we'll find a better way to deal with them, but for right now, the best thing I've found is to just keep quiet and let them wallow in their stupidity. "
