"Against stupidity we are defenseless", said Dietrich Bonhoefer. And if we add to that the fifth law of Cipolla, "A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person."we seem to be in a very awkward position.
The stupid person unlike the ignorant one, is often resistant to information and reason. They cling to their misconceptions with a ferocity that can be baffling.
Obstinacy or stubbornness is one of the hallmarks of stupidity, that immovable stance, that refusal to change one's mind despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. How do they keep themselves going?
In random order, I will present several debating tricks you often encounter when debating with stupid people.
Attacking your opponent, calling your opponent a hypocrite, attacking his credibility, or raising some other issue to distract from the content like this: You dare to say this and that, but WHAT ABOUT..........?
Creating a false balance. The trick here is presenting everything as a difference of opinion with two supposedly equal camps with equal alternatives. Painting Swastikas, Nazi crosses, on a rainbow poster as two opinions where you have to end up in the middle.
When a nonsense story or theory or a clear lie is debunked, you immediately.... yeah...BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN TRUE, SO.....!!!
A trick I have often encountered is: distorting the truth, not really lying, but taking liberties with the truth. This is very effective because debunking it is much more labor-intensive than making it up.
Trolling is: throwing a fishing line behind a boat, hoping something will bite. In the context of weapons of stupidity, it is about getting people riled up, or proclaiming something extreme under the guise of a joke, while you really mean it.
What we always see all the time in current politics is this: drop a plain lie or obvious nonsense. It is the perfect way to test the loyalty of your followers. Because what remains loyal to you after such a remark, those are the real followers.
A beautiful move is always to go after the other person like this: the ‘Why are you so angry?’ reactions, or ‘I’m just asking questions.’ In this way, criticism is not countered in terms of content but is qualified as hatred, and one positions oneself as a victim,
or the accusation of polarization. This is a form of fake decency, in which one calls for an end to polarization if one does not like the tone of a debate.
Another classic we may not forget to mention: the Black/White thinking, which is reducing a complex problem to some kind of YES or NO issue.
A favorite theme in this context is for instance the debate on climate change, a complex theme with still a lot of grey areas.
And a US classic is the First Amendment argument: when someone feels cornered in a discussion, he comes up with the accusation that he is being silenced. Then it is no longer about the content, but about ‘freedom of speech’.
As you see there are many ways to defend your stupid ideas and misconceptions and it often works unfortunately. Are we really defenseless against this?
I'll think of something, but before I create high expectations among you, let me quote Einstein: "Two things are infinite, one is the universe, the other is human stupidity and about the universe, I am still not certain".
The floor is yours...thank you..
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - The Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
27 - Artificial Intelligence 9 Feb 2024 / 1108
28 - Why Am I Here 6 Sept 2024 / 1139
The Discussion
[13:15] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:16] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): not sure what to say now
[13:16] herman Bergson: I understand....these are rather factual things
[13:17] bergfrau Apfelbaum: ja
[13:17] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aha
[13:17] herman Bergson: It is just that you should be alert for such debating tricks
[13:17] herman Bergson: I can't help it but Trump is the eternal example....
[13:18] herman Bergson: when he mentions numbers he always forget the truth
[13:18] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): he talks like a 4-year-old
[13:18] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:18] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): an angry wailing one
[13:18] herman Bergson: When he says something stupid, and Rep senators are asked for their opinion....well...you know the drill :-)
[13:18] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): GIVE ME GIVE ME WAAAAH WAAAAH
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): things likte that
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): + always lying
[13:19] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): he threw a man out of the press room, saying he asked stupid questions
[13:19] herman Bergson: It is really fun to keep an eye on such tricks....
[13:20] herman Bergson: just watch a talk show and you might be rewarded ㋡
[13:21] herman Bergson: Again, Trump does it all the time....any critic of him he attacks as a person...calls the person names, calls him or her a bad person....
[13:21] herman Bergson: It is never about the content
[13:21] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes, he blames always other people for his own mistakes
[13:21] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): black people DEI
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): its insane
[13:22] bergfrau Apfelbaum: because then he gets exactly the attention he loves
[13:22] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): is he going to make stupid mistakes now that he is talking to Mr P?
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): (shudders)
[13:23] herman Bergson: Well...that is a kind of a disaster, what he has done....
[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): all he has done is a disaster
[13:23] herman Bergson: First, he ignores European participation...
[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes
[13:23] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and it gets worse and worse, all while he spreads racism hate and misery everywhere!
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :(
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): misery
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): a monster
[13:24] herman Bergson: second, in stead of negociating he gives Putin already all the marbles without consulting Ukraine itself
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): GROAN!
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :(
[13:25] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): his first mistake is that he makes that FoX man a minister of defense
[13:25] herman Bergson: He simply gives Ukrainian land to Putin with the argument...I want to make peace (and have Putin win....for that is the consequence of his approach(
[13:26] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Putin grins already
[13:26] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): he knows that T is stupid
[13:26] herman Bergson: I think so too
[13:26] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): now he can take the Baltic states as well
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): (shudders)
[13:26] herman Bergson: Yes, people are afraid of that indeed
[13:27] herman Bergson: He can do it with the same argument...liberating Russians in those states
[13:27] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes
[13:27] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): do they want to be liberated?
[13:28] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): and Poland?
[13:28] herman Bergson: We'll see how strong Europe is against Trump
[13:28] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): not so very strong. with Musk throwing millions around
[13:29] herman Bergson: We have to wait and see
[13:29] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): he wants to reorganize Nato
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Trump threatens the entire planet togther with Putin!
[13:30] herman Bergson: Because of the unilateral action of Trump, NATO no longer exists in fact
[13:31] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): that's scary
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): omg he killed it off
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): then Putin might start bomb here also! Sweden Norway Finland ect! (looks really worried)
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): what says he wont proceed with that
[13:32] herman Bergson: not on paper, but in reality yes, for NATO is a negotiation partner for Russia, which means, equally all European contries AND the US
[13:32] herman Bergson: And here the US acts alone, ignoring its allies completely
[13:32] herman Bergson: so...end of NATO
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sheesh
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): that's stupid, what if the US needs help from us?
[13:34] herman Bergson: THAT, Beertje , is an impossibility
[13:34] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): why should we help?
[13:35] herman Bergson: If you mean military help, that makes no sense.
[13:35] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): human aid
[13:35] herman Bergson: The American military force is the biggest in the world
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed if they dont give a crap about us
[13:36] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): because now that all the farmers have problems, there might be hunger in the furture
[13:36] herman Bergson: I don't see that happening neither Beertje
[13:37] herman Bergson: wow....if that would happen......in the US!
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): it's possible
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well T made a huge mess, deporting workers and releasing all irrigation water
[13:37] herman Bergson: That would be something
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): a huge mess already
[13:38] herman Bergson: That is true
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): how much the damage really is so far idk
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but
[13:38] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): he spilled a lot of water that farmers need in summer
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes! :(
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): because south is appearently = DOWN for him.
[13:39] herman Bergson: Maybe its going to be a hot summer
[13:40] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes, there are always water shortages in that area
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the damage is done, we can only wait and hope
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): that it is not too bad
[13:40] herman Bergson: But there is a digital coup going on at the moment...led by Musk.....
[13:40] herman Bergson: just wait and see what that will bring....
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): shesh
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm we have him also
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the OTHER maniac
[13:41] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Musk is the non elected president at the moment
[13:41] herman Bergson: If he gets control over the whole digital infrastructure of Washington he can for instance shut down all computer facilities of Democrats
[13:41] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): taking his 4-year-old son to the Oval Office :(
[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): omg
[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i heard something about it
[13:42] herman Bergson: Distraction Beertje, distraction....
[13:42] herman Bergson: now all talk is about that kid in the oval office and not about his digital coup in progress
[13:42] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i know
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): have not folliwed so close cause i just gets mad and sad of everything
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i knew it was gonna be bad but not THIS ba
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): bad
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :(
[13:43] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): the kid told Trump..you're not the president
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Some sense in the kid at east
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): beause he ismnt
[13:44] herman Bergson: That is what Musk says at the dinner table at home
[13:44] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): he has nothing in Whitehouse to do, just because he is uber rich
[13:44] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes, a child can't say that by his own
[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): it was staged?
[13:45] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): it's a mess, and as alway the normal people, the working class are the victims
[13:46] herman Bergson: yes....so we only have to wait for the protests
[13:46] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): its clear that for Trump and Musk they can all just go and die, they have no value to them whatsoever cause they are not rich
[13:46] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): human value in USA = wallet size
[13:46] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): oh there going to be a lot of protests
[13:46] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :(
[13:47] herman Bergson: Well...guess we are ready saving the world again.....
[13:47] herman Bergson: Thank you all for another day :-)
[13:47] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): in fact people are already dying, because health funds are pulled by Musk
[13:47] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but he dont care
[13:47] herman Bergson: Class dismissed....
[13:48] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
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