So I try to be a pretty tolerant, considerate guy. I try to understand people, and allow for individuality and difference. I really really try to get into people’s shoes, ya know? But it never fails to astound me when people act completely, totally idiotic.
Case in point: There is a particular online game website that I like to frequent, which utilizes a simple type of chat. I tend to avoid partaking in this chat, because most people are dumb and I prefer not to engage in that. But one night, I was feeling frisky or something and jumped on some jackass’s comment that religion is to blame for all of the world’s ills. Yeah, I was really asking for it; I feel like a real doopshit now, but that that’s neither here nor there. We ended up talking about the Holocaust (what else? Geez) and I pretty much schooled his ass with my point that Nazi nationalism wasn’t fueled by religion, thus the Holocaust was pretty much a non-religious thing. The unschooled clowns I was discussing with wouldn’t hear it, and one of them must’ve been a moderator because I was pretty quickly banned.
All in all: Andrew, you’re a dumbass. Such is life. But my point here is that the other guys wouldn’t even hear my point. It pretty much appeared to me that they neither took in anything I said nor even attempted to process it in a meaningful manner, then went on to accuse me of the same closed-mindedness that they were brandishing.
It reminds me of that episode I wrote about that I had with a particular family member a while back.
It’s quite frustrating that my inability to quickly come up with witty retorts leads me to lose arguments, rather than my inability to actually argue a point. Pointing out strawmen (something I did in that discussion I just wrote about) does nothing for someone who doesn’t give a shit. What a shame.
Filed under: Commentary, Life, Ridiculous
“Before you insult someone, try walking a mile in their shoes. That way when you insult them, you’re a mile away, and you have their shoes.”