I came to this forum in part because I’m getting tired of arguing with ignorant people on Reddit. I wish there was a way to find a community where people have some basic understanding about how the world work (or recognize when they are talking about something they don’t understand) – and we can agree on a definitions for our discussion. For example, I recently got into fruitless arguments with people on reddit who 1. insisted that ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ are the same thing 2. insisted that ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘sexual assault’ are the same thing. Do you think it’s productive to even debate with those people (in online forums). I feel like the best discussions must come from some shared frame of reference… so maybe they would be best centered around some recorded/written content.
Everyone has their own perspective, so it’s not as of you’ll find people who aren’t ignorant of anything, and the problems of things like multiple valid definitions of terms, but it is annoying to see how widespread foolish stubbourn trivially-contradicted views are like the examples you gave.
@itsnc7 has a good point: pick your battles and know when to disengage. What do you aim to accomplish? Is disagreeing going to do that?
No. If someone is not open-minded enough to consider your argument, debate is an ineffective rhetoric for informing them. Tell us what it would possibly produce, beyond self-satisfaction.
Well, moving away from the mainstream like reddit and twitter will quickly bring you closer (or further!) to people who have enough of a clue to at least bring value to the discussion. Hopefully here remains alright, we’ve got a (somewhat) wide range of views while maintaining civil discussion.
Long ago, I participated in a forum called ‘swords crossed’, where people basically chose flair to announce their political position, then argued over a variety of topics. It was pretty effective, but small (maybe 30 people). It lasted for awhile, then faded away. I suspect that the small size was a big part of what made it effective discussion. For instance, on reddit, I don’t think I ever see the same person twice.