I approach this with the presumption that this isn't the case.
And that is why they perpetually gain ground and we perpetually lose it. Do you see them offering you the same courtesy? Their greatest weapon is your benefit of the doubt. Your greatest weapon is refusing to give it. If you do, they have nothing left, and have no choice but to screech like rabid monkeys. Look at their responses to me in this thread for proof that my argumentative methodology works.
There is a significant difference between the john money's and alfred kinsey's of the world that knowingly set out to deceive and people that trust their research, often in an innocent way that they can not comprehend the depths of evil that some people are capable of, and that they can not conceptualise or believe that there are structures in the world that would shelter them rather than eject them.
I remember believing the latter exists. I no longer do. They're not foolish. They don't disagree. They're evil.
It has taken me quite a lot of work dissect kinsey's work for example and I still feel like I've only just begun. I understand that not everyone has the capacity to spend that amount of time on it.
I have spent 0 seconds looking at it and I already know it's bullshit. Everyone does. I genuinely don't believe these people are real. 100% of them are bad faith actors. It is not possible, in theory, for a rational human being to believe the things these people say. It is a necessary logical conclusion that they are lies, there is no reasonable alternative case.
In turn, I do not see the point in doing what you do; to speak to people you presume are lying through their teeth and reject every truth. What a waste of time, I would regard that exercise.
I'm not "presuming." Presumption is judgement before evidence. I have seen more than enough evidence. The point is to expose the fact that they are engaging in bad faith. That is how you win an argument: In any argument, one person is right and the other is lying. The goal is to show that the other person is the liar. If they have the slightest bit of decency it will shame them and they will change. If they don't, they will lose their goddamn minds and engage in a rapid-fire of random tactics and plays in a desperate hail mary move. The goal is not to change their minds, the goal is to make them drop the pretense that their minds can be changed. The goal is to get them to show you, and everyone else, that they are unreasonable and insane. You're watching that happen right now. You are watching me win.
I don't have a good opinion of people that don't engage in intellectual discussion with intellectual honesty.
I believe these people are lying. Treating them like they are engaging in good faith would be intellectually dishonest. Like I said, devil's advocacy is bad faith. I would never under any circumstances argue from a position I do not actually hold. It would actually be bad faith of me to act like these people believe what they say. If they want me to, they first have to convince me, because I will not engage in performative respect.
That means in part answering questions, asking questions and not ignoring important points. In that regard I hold you in better regard; you've answered every question.
Thanks nigga.
Also, nobody is a nihilist, not even people that profess or try to be. Always behind their words it's clear that there are things they value, despite their attempts to not do so. Everybody has things they love. If I can make the path to redemption shorter or easier for even one person, I will have made a contribution worth contributing.
I remember believing this. Unfortunately it's not true. There are people who are wholly empty inside, who have no beliefs at all. The NPC thing is not just a meme. Some people are not capable of love. Some people are just plain unambiguously evil, and there is no redemption for them. The only thing you can do is defeat them. Putting them down like rabid dogs would be preferable, but beating them in an argument until they are so ashamed they shut the fuck up forever is a good second choice.
