Off a duck's back

When it comes to arguments, I have no problem people arguing ideas but as soon as it becomes personal attacks and name calling, I get disinterested very quickly. The internet seems to love the drama and while they call the politicians childish and immature when they resort to ad hominems, act in an identical manner while thinking they are clever. If an argument requires personal attacks and character assassination, it is not a valid argument to use to invalidate a concept, it is just lazy.

It is lazy because in a world that has created a large amount of emotionally unstable yet polarized people across a broad range of topics, it is very easy to trigger reaction without actually putting forward anything of value to the conversation. For me, I find it all rather useless but people seem to think they 'win' something by attacking someone's position by attacking the person, they don't.

There is very little chance of changing someone's or a group of people's understanding or belief in something by attacking or ridiculing them as it raises defenses and results in a doubling-down effect. What it does do is polarize further and make any open and honest discussion less likely which means, anyone claiming to be doing it for some kind of better good is essentially ignorant to what they are doing.

What it generally seems to be is a type of tribal mentality where people can gain traction and support within their echo chambers by attacking a common enemy, which makes it a needy and attention seeking approach and quite childish. I find it doubly silly when people who claim to be independent thinkers resort to this kind of behavior as it is driven by the expectation of group support.

Having said that, for those that do get attacked in this way, learn to recognize it for what it is, keep a level head either continue to engage with a higher maturity or if that isn't possible, step away from the argument as it is very unlikely that there is value in it for anyone once it gets to a level of name calling.

I have noticed a few people who run services and businesses engaging and getting drawn into these kinds of arguments which makes me personally question their intentions and whether they are emotionally stable enough to run a business under pressure reliably. There are others however who regardless of how strongly they are attacked, conduct themselves civilly and can continue the conversation under duress or, politely extract themselves.

I find it difficult to trust people and their opinions who have strong emotional reactions to argument and difficult to trust people who resort to personal attacks to try and evoke such reactions as it clearly puts personal agenda at the forefront of the decision making and argument.

That is just me though I guess as so many seem to love the drama of it all, even if it leads to nothing of consequence.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]