• LAVA Moderator: Mysterier

What really pisses you off when you're having a debate/argument?

Rio Fantastic

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
1,727
Hello,

So on this forum, I along with many others do a lot of debating (sometimes just arguing :p). I really enjoy it, I believe it makes you more creative, increases your knowledge and forces you to challenge your own beliefs and put them to the test, and it can sometimes broaden your perspectives, teach you new things and even change your mind on topics completely. I believe many debates are redundant, however, like these idiot atheists who insist on debating every religious person they find in a condescending and patronizing way - those debates are stupid, nobody's mind is ever going to change, they're arguing at cross-purposes since the logical, evidence-based framework that debates works on is incompatible with faith-based religion. This doesn't make logical debate better than religion - just different, but these militant atheists don't seem to get that. It's just one of many personal pet peeves when it comes to debating on the internet i.e. arguing on the internet i.e. the main reason I go on the internet.

Another one that really gets to me is when you're judged for holding certain beliefs and if you ever debate with anyone about anything, they immediately use that against you even if it has NOTHING to do with what you're talking about. I'm part of a group that doesn't have representation here on Bluelight so I don't mention it, but on other websites like Reddit they are active, so I often post on their sub and talk to them. I understand its a controversial belief and its not for everybody, but now like 80% of the time I'll be in a debate about something TOTALLY UNRELATED and they'll end up pointing to my membership of that group as if that somehow discredits me, and then start arguing with me about the cenetral tenents of that group, even though it has nothing to do with the debate at hand!!! It angers me so much!!!

What are yours, Bluelight?
 
At the moment, I'm annoyed with the idea that an internet discussion via a thread on a forum is a formal debate. I'm arguing for DIY genetic engineering, particularly of aquarium fish in another forum. I had a bit of a rant about the practice of injecting fish with dyes and posted a pic of a blueberry tetra then went on about the evils of patented genomes and organism. The guy who's been answering me said, "Your previous post was nothing but a Red Herring." I replied that he was wrong, it was a Blue Tetra and that this isn't high school debate club, it's a freeform discussion.
 
When any statement about human biodiversity, evolutionary psychology, differences between various groups, etc is lambasted as "hate" and dismissed eo ipso.

Word. I *loathe* people who get offended on behalf of some other presumably oppressed group. I'm writing a campaign setting for RPGs based on the legends of various Bantu cultures. Since almost all of these peoples regard baboons as fully sentient people (the !Kung call them "the people who sit on their heels"), I made a race of sentient mandrills and rules for playing them. This was one review:

I looked over your PDF, impressive amount of stuff, but I have to say the Baboon people is an eye sore on what looks otherwise like something you've spent a lot of time on. I see no way you can possibly include sentient monkies as a playable race in an African themed setting without setting off some major unfortunate associations. Also pygmy suffers the same. The term is not used in modern anthropology, it is greek in origin and has nothing to do with what the population it describes call themselves.

So, because black Americans were once compared to 'talking monkeys' ages ago I must edit the mythology of an African meta-culture so as not to offend?


Critic: And humans arn't really monkeys, we are primates which are a different matter altogether. We may share a common ancestor - so do birds and lizards yet grouping them together is not usually done. To be aware of the history of racial theory and its implications does not a racist make. I consider that a petty little remark from your side. Imagining a world without these implications is a good way of moving on from them, but you will still have to deal with the implications in the real world.m

Tantric: Well, no. Humans are typically grouped with monkeys. I disagree with your ideas of racism. Race theory is the idea that humans are divided into meaningful group based, in theory, on skin color, and more realistically on a schema of alienness to European identity. Thus the 'Asian' race, where Japanese and Tamil are grouped together, while 'Hispanic' seems to mean Euro-Americans that don't speak English. It defies all logic. Consider - a white woman can give birth to black baby, but a black woman can't have a white child. When analyzed, you realize that 'black' means 'pollution'. Americans with Slavic, Irish, French and Italian backgrounds are considered 'white' while people with some part sub-Saharan African extraction, despite having a nearly identical culture to the 'whites' are a different race. Hell, the system is so FUBAR that our language doesn't have a word for the actual skin tone of its' native speakers - if you painted a wall British skin colored, what color is it? Milk is white, I'm not. Nor are black people black or yellow or red. This is a language with uncounted thousands of color terms, except in one area (BTW, my skin is off-white(TM)). So yeah, if you subscribe to this paradigm, you're a racist. Not a bigot, that's different, but a racist. The system can't be salvaged or improved - going from Negro to Black to African-American, the merry go round of politcally correct terminology, doesn't help. When you look at a fantasy version of Africa and see a race of sapient mandrills and interpret that as racism, it's because your running the race theory program in your head. If I'm uptight about Little People rights, I can look at Forgotten Realms and see the dwarves as a slur.

So I don't run the racism program. If you want to label yourself, I'll respect that. But you owe me the same. My race is human. My people are the realpeople, an extinct group of pygmies that once inhabited North America, now being reborn. Ohsaycanyousea History. Yep, I'm a reincarnated pygmy. My color, such as it is, is rainbow. Nuts, maybe, but better than the alternative, FUBAR, fractured sick and rotten to core race theory. Culture is a choice, choose wisely.

Critic: Is the Realpeople a construct of your own? I looked up 'north american pygmy' on google and can find nothing except for some rather doubtful looking crypto-zoologist discussions. And while I do believe that culture is to a high degree something constructed the implications of cultural identities are much more grounded than you believe. You can't just claim to step outside an existing cultural norm in a few sweeping generalizations, it runs deeper than that.

Tantric: Back in my shaman days, I had a genuine vision. My ancestors spoke to me. They, like all preliterate peoples, called themselves 'realpeople' and others from outside their tribe 'nonpeople'. Half of the tribe names of Native Americans translate to 'the people'. The point was postmodern ethnology, and seriously , given your arguments, are you going to try to force me to identify with my birth culture? Ignore everything I am, look at my skin and label me 'white'. Yeah, racism, much. My race is human. My people are the realpeople, the Ohsaycanyousea tribe. My color is rainbow. My heroes are Venus and Polaris, and I await the day they return and slay Death itself, so all the beautiful species the notpeople have destroyed will be again.

Mod: It is not racism if people call you white and you are in fact white. In fact, I'd advise you check what racism is before dropping that into conversation again.

This is a warning.

Result: permanent ban. I'm not only not allowed to express my beliefs, the Mods actually force me to accept the racial identity of "white" - I get grouped into a metaculture purely based on the color of my skin, a group that is assumed to be responsible for the oppression of other such groups. I'm obligated to use terms like "person of color" - which I find asinine, what am I, transparent? I must tiptoe around numerous linguistic and cultural landmines.
 
When I'm right and the other fucker is so stupid that you cant get through to them, so I go into a rage and it makes me look like a psychopath.

Like this:

 
arguments kind of annoy me to begin with

also losing arguments

I love a good argument or debate, I think the internet is a great place to vent anger or frustration, or even just a bit of heated banter than becomes the battle of the wits. Internet forums such as Bluelight or The Independent Newspaper Facebook page is where i do most of my arguing, I love it.
 
Love limmy mushet :)
I get pissed off with myself if i argue without thinking and misrepresent myself as a twat by mistake.
 
I hate when people interrupt me, especially because I don't raise my voice, and I listen thoroughly to what others have to say.

I also hate when people put words in my mouth, or twist what I have said in a derisive manner.
 
When a mf says "thats what the computer says, sir" or something as asinine. Blow my cool, man... real quick.
This was in the 8 pages of "new" I ususally scroll through and the mindless bot behing the screen came to mind. I could RAM a hard-drive in their serial ports. hehe
 
When a mf says "thats what the computer says, sir" or something as asinine. Blow my cool, man... real quick.
This was in the 8 pages of "new" I ususally scroll through and the mindless bot behing the screen came to mind. I could RAM a hard-drive in their serial ports. hehe

wdymm? I am not sure your train of thought is "disgestible". Ey.. is you work as a freelancer tehnician or what exactly?
 
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