Today, I'm gonna be complaining about arguments on the internet, and the reason(s) they never seem to get anywhere.
Firstly- people are way too extreme with their beliefs. In political arguments, people tend to be either completely to the left, or completely to the right, and see everything the opposing side says as an expertly crafted, brilliantly planned ingenious piece of propaganda. At the same time, they see everything the opposing side says as stupid and unintelligent. People never really consider the other side's claims or opinions- they just dismiss them and call the person stupid for believing them.
Logical fallacies are another big problem. Specifically, ad hominem attacks, strawman arguments, and depending on the subject matter, the burden of proof, are used to make the opponent's arguments seem flawed (funnily enough- using fallacies for this is in itself a fallacy). There's a handy website that everyone should read through, in order to increase their own debating skills and to be less easily swayed by other people's claims. If you can't be bothered though, I'll summarise the ones I mentioned here.
One of the biggest issue though is places becoming echo chambers. People making controversial claims will attract like-minded people, and eventually form a group of people who all validate each others' beliefs. This means the claims can gradually get more and more extreme, since there are few people there to provide other points of view.
Recently, I realised another issue with the echo chamber problem though. Not only do people use them as validation for their claims, they use them as social groups, almost- they feel part of a community, constantly agreeing with each other, providing evidence, etc. People get a sense of belonging, even superiority, from these groups. When someone challenges their claims, they're essentially challenging their self-worth, not just their ideologies. It's very polarising, and can make rational debates near-impossible. Not only that, but it isolates them from the outside world, making them even more attached to the echo chamber.
I should point out now- I haven't actually named any names here, because I'm not talking about any one group. Everyone uses fallacies sometimes, everyone has biases, and everyone can get defensive when their beliefs are challenged (me included, obviously). I don't intend to single out any particular group of people (in this post, anyways). Instead, I want people to become consciously aware of all these issues, and hopefully make the internet a more productive, civilised place.
Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed this post! Read through the site I linked when you get the time- there's some useful stuff in there.
