I have a problem. Okay, I have lots of problems, but we’re just going to talk about this one for now.
I hate stupid arguments. I don’t mean arguments that are stupid because people shouldn’t be having them, I mean arguments where it doesn’t matter whether the person is right or wrong about the underlying facts because their argument is stupid. It drives me absolutely batshit. In fact, some of the most bitter and spiteful arguments in which I have ever been embroiled have been with people I actually agreed with in principle, but felt that their dumbass approach to arguing the position did more to convince people of the opposite side of the debate than anything.
A really good example of this was when someone once argued that voting on Bill Clinton’s impeachment was justified, but their argument is that getting a blowjob from an intern is worth getting impeached over. We got into a nasty scrape over that one, because I called the guy out for being a complete moron, even though I agreed that an impeachment vote was proper because he’d committed perjury. I just cannot tolerate someone eroding my position on the basic issue by arguing my side of the issue like a drunken, uneducated dolt.
Sometimes, the violation of my sensibilities is so egregious that I start arguing the other side of the debate as a devil’s advocate, for the sole purpose of beating the crap out of my opponent. That’s probably a character flaw on my part, but it’s not going to change… because the level of discourse these days is so horribly depressed that I just don’t feel I have a choice. I, and really by that I mean “we” insofar as the people most likely to be reading this are smart folks too, have to crush this wave of ignorance. Our society is in the position it’s in largely because we, as a society, won’t challenge the people who are “on our side” for their fuckery. That, in turn, leads to a consistent decay over time in our society’s very ability to process argument logically. It leads to crack-headed extremists being taken seriously by people. It leads to a complete lack of truly objective reporting in the media, because the only time anyone gets challenged is by people who don’t agree with the proposition. As a result, everyone who does agree can just dismiss the opposition as simply being opposed.
Healthy debate within a circle is just as, and probably more, important than debate between circles. It’s important to remember that just as a general rule, but you should also be very, very aware that it’s a lot of what makes me tick personally. If I am arguing with you, always remember I may actually agree with your primary position and just think you’re fucking up the argument.
