This is what I told a fellow liberal re: why I refuse to engage in debate with conservatives

[Coolest Ranger]

If I didn't have to read comments like, "liberturd" or Marxist, Communist, socialist, I would be willing to engage them, but most of the time when you try to shed the truth on these folks, they get a bunch of their buddies and spam report your account and fix it so you can't post. Let's not forget that story about that fox staffer who had 100 facebook accounts to spread his master's BS as well. I myself have had my own facebook page cloned, pictures of me stolen, trolls pretending to be me, vile and insane pages created using my own pictures. I will not EVER engage in a debate with a conservative until they get their act together and behave like a human being. I'm sorry but I just don't trust them. Period.

Anyone else feel the same way?

[Xyzse]

1. There is usually no point.

So I don't get in to political discussions with them.

Unless they are able to acknowledge different point of views and their merits, there is just no point.

[SharonAnn]

2. I think Barney Frank's statement "like trying to have a dialogue with a dining room table"

described the best result you could get engaging in debate with conservatives. Your scenario is perhaps the worst.

My personal maxims:
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig."
"Some stumps you've just gotta plow around".

[TheMastersNemesis]

3. I Feel Te Same Way Except We Are In A State Of War And Political Combat

[aikoaiko]

4. No, because I am a liberal.

Part of being a liberal, as I see it, is that I am tolerant of opposing views so that if can engage others.

[Coolest Ranger]

5. I would be willing

if the name calling didn't happen, if I didn't get attacked for my weight, my sexuality, everything.

[aikoaiko]

7. I understand. Their cruety knows no bounds.

[closeupready]

6. Most of them argue in bad faith - they don't believe their own BS

but they will try to get others to believe it, since it serves their hidden agenda, which is to make them and their 1% class richer at any cost, even at the cost of destroying the middle class and poor.

So I see no point to it. It just gives me a headache, and I don't - in turn - learn anything I didn't already know.

[libodem]

8. They are hardwired differently

I think they have a default setting of 'enraged' and they just snap out, if you present, Conservatives with a challenge to their beliefs.

They would rather destroy you than examine their beliefs and valuess. It is that much of a threat.

[el_bryanto]

9. Well I would agree that arguing with assholes is a waste of time

And most conservatives are assholes (in fairness most people in general are assholes). That said, if you run into a conservative who isn't an asshole, you should probably engage them in a discussion if there is something to talk about.

Bryant

[Coolest Ranger]

10. I have rarely run into them

and the few I have run into are a pleasure to talk to. I just wish there were more like that.

[hfojvt]

11. I have this illusion

that people can be reasoned with. They are stubborn and slow to admit error, as am I, but they can be reasoned with.

This illusion gets shattered every day, but like the living metal of Terminator 2, it reforms itself and keeps on tilting at those windmills.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

12. This could be cited as exhibit "A" in an explanation of why America is becoming more polarised.

The problem is that the internet makes it far easier to seek out echo chambers and avoid ever actually having ones views challenged.

If you're not engaging in debate with conservatives, you're not engaging in debate, you're just preaching to the choir.

And, unless you're much smarter and better at keeping perspective than most people, that's a very dangerous activity to engage in - do too much of it, and it makes it virtually impossible to think objectively or question your own prejudices.

[The_Commonist]

13. It's pretty pointless. They are usually completely full of shit.

You can't argue with a bag of shit.

This morning on a friend's Facebook, she had posted something about Mandela's service, and Obama being there, yadda, yadda, yadda. It was a pretty lively conversation. Some guy posts stuff about Mandela being a communist and a terrorist, who was skilled at making bombs and planting them in malls and other civilian spots. He goes on about speeches Mandela made in Moscow and Havana. Why are we honoring a communist and a terrorist, etc?

He goes on to say that if people could only see the transcripts of those speeches, if people would only learn history, yadda yadda, warble garble.

I asked if he could point me to one of those speeches, or provide a link to evidence that Mandela planted bombs in a mall, because I wanted to learn history.

His response? "I can not, nor would I print you any transcripts if I had that information available. Do the digging for yourself... He is a terrorist, and communist and a murderer. I personally, am very glad he is no longer with us..."

Well, alrighty then!
What that tells me is that he got it all from Fox News, doesn't know what he's talking about, and is unwilling to put himself in a position to be called out. And when that happens, I leave it alone.

(for the record... I know plenty about Mandela's past. I know about the ANC. I was able to find a transcript of his 1991 speech in Havana in about 5 seconds. I just wanted to see if that guy had any idea at all about anything...)

[Coolest Ranger]

19. You've made my point for me

I see this all the time and you get sick of trying to educate these clowns.

[brooklynite]

14. How do you feel about "Rethug", "Teabagger", and "Wingnut"?

If I didn't have to read comments like, "liberturd" or Marxist, Communist, socialist, I would be willing to engage them

Sadly, both sides tend to devolve into name-calling at some point.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Their debating skills have much to be desired.

[Jamaal510]

16. My policy

is to respond to someone with my disagreements and get my two cents across, and then move on without getting into a back-and-forth with some stranger online who I'll probably never meet. Even if I were to get into a long debate with someone and "win", what would I get for it?

[Shankapotomus]

17. Not to intentionally brag but

I don't run from debates with conservatives. They run from debates with me.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

18. I agree. The mental sickness of some online conservatives

Becomes immediately apparent. When they see you are stepping logically through an argument on any topic and stopping them from side tracking it with numerous fallacies, they ultimately up the ante and try to hurt and intimidate you in the real world.

It is a sad statement that those liars claim to be moral and solid citizens, but they are the first to engage in retaliatory behavior from abusive name calling to much worse.

[Coolest Ranger]

20. Thank you Pretzel

I couldn't have written this better myself.

[Iggo]

21. "California's a three strike state."

That usually gets the point across.