In an online world of e-mobs and outrage, where thinkers and intellectual prophets battle not only for the veracity of their ideas but for our eyeballs, one of the main events we absolutely love to watch, one of our favorite spectacles is no doubt the death of a strawman.
Wut?
If you are confused, I do apologize but I promise I'm not punishing my keyboard for the sake of putting out at least a second post for the day, that's not it. This weird post is inspired in a conversation I just had with a fellow of the "opposition".
What opposition? You may ask, and yes, that's a good question, but let's sweep it under the rug for a second and talk about denim overalls stuffed with hay. Metaphorically speaking of course.
You see, the fallacy, which for this post I've chosen to call a spectacle, is very common, and it does give us a tingling sensation in our poggies when someone we agree with partakes of the event.
So what you mean is....
I will grant you this is not the only way conversations get derailed, but it's sure the most common way that they do. The "trick", if you will, is to repackage the opposing view as a caricature, and then proceed to beat it senselessly, since of course that is the only think we ought to do with ridiculous propositions.
Let's say that you are arguing for the idea that we should strive to create a society that takes care of the less fortunate. That we ought to have social programs that give our country a safety net that does not let anyone fall through the cracks. I think for the most part that position is noble, and easy to agree with, but if hypothetically, I want to "defeat you", I could enter the battle arena in the following way.
So, what you are saying is that personal responsibility is not a thing, and that we should steal from those who are responsible, those who work hard and give it all to the drug addicts and the criminals?
As you might imagine, the next phrases out of my hypothetical mouth are verbal daggers that eviscerate the "translation" I've presented of your once coherent position. And, as you can also imagine the straw man is defeated easily, the crowd cheers, the likes on the video or the post become plenty, and the echo chamber impenetrable seal is further reinforced.
Oh, but I don't ever...
Don't lie, no need, nobody is watching you read this..
Hey, you are probably not going to comment anyways..
Listen, you may not build the straw men yourself, maybe you don't like confrontation, but you do love to see one get slaughtered by a superior intellect.
We should probably add a question mark to the word superior, but I digress. The point is we all do it, we all love it, it's the battle of ideas, if said ideas were tinged with fetishistic coloring and edified in futility for our viewing pleasure.
What's that? You don't know what I'm talking about?
Ask me if I believe you... go ahead.
MenO
An interesting review @meno, and of course in this battle of ideas, it’s better to have your firm position!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I hope that our interaction is not the spark for this fire lol. Not to raise a point from the last convo we had but here is where someone like Shapiro or Glenn Beck stands out. You see their arguments are about solutions and even if they fall on the other side of the aisle they are looking for the best answer not someone to burn. If you want to see that logic look at all the impeachment pushing by late night comedians that people think are not bias.
The argument made by a true conservative voice about your example is not that social programs should not exist but that the government is a terrible handler of these programs. Thwy become corrupted and inefficient and then never get fixed hurting those that they say they help.
A key example of this is Social security. Prior to its implementation more people thought about retirement and taking care of others including donating to charity. After there is a severe shift in thinking someone else will do it. You see if private organizations do these things then they have more impact and actually make it to those that need it and yes like AA there is an expectation of personal responsibility which there should be.
When I help people or do something for someone I.am often asked why. I say because it's the right thing and it's what we are supposed to do. The notion that a large central agency knows what is best for you is simply wrong and after seeing what generational welfare looks like and how people plan to get knocked up for.more benefits I am sorry it's plain wrong.
If we disagree brother than we do but I do agree that we should not look at defeating all of one view or another. Both sides must agree to reach solutions but sometimes that solution is on the other side. Thanks for sharing!!
Posted using Partiko Android
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
We had a good discussion about it, it was actually another one I had on Twitter under Gad Saads post on gender pay gap for soccer players. If you are on Twitter, you can find me there under @menobass
Posted using Partiko Android
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit