Argument is futile.

Two unrelated experiences on X recently made me aware of a phenomenon I hadn't previously noticed: manipulating someone into making an argument just so you can mock them for having made the effort to make an argument.

In one, a Millennial complained that I hadn't provided any data for my argument that previous generations didn't have it vastly better, so I provided several comments with data. Her response was to link to a page called "Making white men write paragraphs."

So despite her explicit complaint that Boomers don't listen to the facts presented by Millennials, she actually didn't want facts, and the presentation of facts is just for suckers.

Today someone asked me if I didn't believe workers created all wealth, then I needed to explain how wealth could be created without workers. So I wrote that it was an interaction between capital, management, and labor that creates wealth, and the response was "No workers = no wealth. No need to write an essay trying to argue the opposite."

So, again, the person asks for an argument, then mocks the respondent for bothering to make one.

I'm the sucker here, no doubt about it. But it's the dynamic that interests me.