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> But there's a kind of insincere criticism that can't be answered because that's not it's goal. The goal is to waste time and make people angry. You might sus
by logicalmonster 4y ago
> But there's a kind of insincere criticism that can't be answered because that's not it's goal. The goal is to waste time and make people angry.
You might suspect that somebody does X for Y reason or is not sincere, but it should clearly be stated that mind-reading never has been and never will be a thing. Speaking of bad faith arguments, imagine trying to discuss with somebody who literally invents their opponents thoughts out of thin air and then impugns their motives based on those invented thoughts.
- jfengel 4y agoYou are, of course, correct. It can be difficult to tell when somebody is stupid, or an asshole, or merely pretending to be a stupid asshole. It's all the same to the person on the receiving end. It's not worth engaging with people who don't listen. Whether they are deliberately trying to aggravate, or are merely too stupid to know that their arguments are tedious.
- logicalmonster 4y ago> You are, of course, correct. It can be difficult to tell when somebody is stupid, or an asshole, or merely pretending to be a stupid asshole. It could be the case that somebody is stupid or an asshole. But you've left out one of the most important possibilities: maybe the other person is dead right about something that you're dead wrong about. > It's all the same to the person on the receiving end. It's not worth engaging with people who don't listen. Whether they are deliberately trying to aggravate, or are merely too stupid to know that their arguments are tedious. Using a phrase like "people who don't listen" seems a little problematic to me. That's not the kind of phrase that somebody who is a genuine knowledge seeker who is willing to consider the full diversity of human ideas would ever consider.