They even ask rhetorical questions as if to suggest a specific argument that they don’t want to make outright, but then never have the courtesy to type out the argument they wanted to make once their questions are answered. Like, they asked “So China and Russia aren’t authoritarianisms? [sic]” implying that they do think China and Russia are authoritarian, but when faced with a counterargument they don’t try to explain why the thing they believe stands up against that counterargument and make the implicit thing from the question explicit; instead they just start mocking the interlocutor without offering any response or counterargument. So exhausting and annoying.
I’m pretty convinced that most of the worst internet behaviour is linked to poor dopamine regulation. They just want that sweet hit of satisfaction from the “gotcha” moment, the feeling of “winning” without having to expend any effort. When it’s called out they have nowhere to go other than trying to “win” again with a more extreme/absurd “gotcha”.
Yeah that’s definitely consistent with the behavior shown on this thread. People deploy arguments that I can’t imagine are actually supposed to be persuasive because they have absolutely 0 convincing content behind them. It feels almost as if they’re only doing it for the performance of arguing, not for the prospect of arriving at a better understanding of something or convincing someone else.
Debatebro culture has a lot to answer for. And twitter, for that matter. Before that at least most political arguments online were somewhat long-form in my experience. (I grew up on the Gaiaonline “Extended Discussion” boards lmao.) Now it’s all about trying to shut it down as definitively as possible within an arbitrarily small character limit. Hexbear is genuinely the only place I see anyone engaging in lengthy discussion nowadays
They even ask rhetorical questions as if to suggest a specific argument that they don’t want to make outright, but then never have the courtesy to type out the argument they wanted to make once their questions are answered. Like, they asked “So China and Russia aren’t authoritarianisms? [sic]” implying that they do think China and Russia are authoritarian, but when faced with a counterargument they don’t try to explain why the thing they believe stands up against that counterargument and make the implicit thing from the question explicit; instead they just start mocking the interlocutor without offering any response or counterargument. So exhausting and annoying.
I’m pretty convinced that most of the worst internet behaviour is linked to poor dopamine regulation. They just want that sweet hit of satisfaction from the “gotcha” moment, the feeling of “winning” without having to expend any effort. When it’s called out they have nowhere to go other than trying to “win” again with a more extreme/absurd “gotcha”.
Yeah that’s definitely consistent with the behavior shown on this thread. People deploy arguments that I can’t imagine are actually supposed to be persuasive because they have absolutely 0 convincing content behind them. It feels almost as if they’re only doing it for the performance of arguing, not for the prospect of arriving at a better understanding of something or convincing someone else.
Debatebro culture has a lot to answer for. And twitter, for that matter. Before that at least most political arguments online were somewhat long-form in my experience. (I grew up on the Gaiaonline “Extended Discussion” boards lmao.) Now it’s all about trying to shut it down as definitively as possible within an arbitrarily small character limit. Hexbear is genuinely the only place I see anyone engaging in lengthy discussion nowadays