In Reply to: I agree that these people will never research anything on posted by HasBen on September 20, 2025 at 11:16:14
around the way people behave when they debate things, especially when it comes to this new crop of self-confident, self-righteous debate bros. I am tired of the way everyone treats facts as a way to score points. In fact, I am very very tired of this whole point scoring exercise that seems to drive our political interactions.
IMO, facts are facts and they need to be stated in an as-a-matter -of-fact way. They need to be stated simply and confidently, expecting it to be a part of the shared reality that any discussion needs to ne based on. Not turned into some kind of goal being scored.
I think the notion of a "debate" is a very bad habit we picked up somewhere along the way, which is why I try to emphasize "discussion" over "debate". Debates are competitive games that lead to rigid propositions and an illusion of clarity. Discussions are where we actually think through any given proposition and consider it from multiple angles and reach a conclusion that is often messier than what we started out with but with a better understanding. Debates are zero sum. Discussions are not.
In that context, I find debate bros cringe, as the kids say.
That said, factual corrections need to be made at the spot and not left to linger and spawn even more bad ideas on their own.