Pointless internet conversation of the day

[conuly]

"The Black Panthers were scum, name one good thing they ever did!"
"Free breakfasts."
"Your source doesn't provide enough information! You're full of shit!"
"My source is National Geographic. They're a reputable source. You don't like it, go google it."
"Anyway, the FBI calls them an extremist organization!"
"The FBI called Martin Luther King an extremist. On this issue, they are not a reputable source."

I'm debating whether or not I care to go another round. On the one hand, it passes the time while the girls take their break. On the other... meh.

Comments

[elf]

There are three potential reasons to have conversations like this:

1) You find them entertaining
2) You use them to develop rhetoric for discussions with people who are actually willing to listen, but didn't know where to find better info than schools and TV fed them
3) Annoy, distract, and confuse the racist; time they spend arguing with you is time not spent bothering someone who'd be hurt by it, and if you're troublesome enough, they'll be cautious about bringing up their points in the future, for fear of being "suppressed" when they do so.

Basically, as long as you're not looking at the conversation as an opportunity to educate the idiot, it's much easier to accept the results.

There's also the sub-reason of "begin conversation to find out if this person is actually interested in better info than they had, or if they just wanted to feel they 'won' an argument that confirmed their existing biases."

[conuly]

There's also the sub-reason of "begin conversation to find out if this person is actually interested in better info than they had, or if they just wanted to feel they 'won' an argument that confirmed their existing biases."

Oh, it's definitely the latter.

[elf]

Yeah, I figured. Anyone who starts with "Black Panthers were scum" rather than "I heard the Black Panthers did a lot of violent things" is not likely to be persuaded by "actually, the mainstream media went out of their way to lie about them."

[conuly]

Well, I mean, I paraphrased to make it snappy. But that was the gist, yes.

Also: We have a book in the house, One Crazy Summer. Possibly the only middle grade historical fiction book featuring the Black Panthers. As our protagonist mentally snarks when their newly unestranged mom sends them to get free breakfast, she'd never seen the Black Panthers serving eggs on TV, but then, it probably wouldn't be very interesting.

[dragovianknight]

I have nothing useful to add except "what Elf said." I'm just commenting because OMG I love One Crazy Summer.

[conuly]

YES. Have you read the rest of the trilogy?

[dragovianknight]

I haven't! I didn't realize it was a trilogy!

[conuly]

!

a fourth reason

[redbird]

In some online contexts, I'm arguing with one clueless or malicious person, but I'm writing for whoever else is reading the email list, newsgroup, blog comments, etc. That's particularly likely if it's a context like a local email list (where any number of topics can come up in between the practical questions about eye doctors and car repair, and announcements of park cleanups, and such), a newsgroup with numerous topics, or an open thread on a blog, any of which is likely to have lots of people who don't already have opinions about the Black Panthers, or for that matter whether to allow pet dogs in hardware stores.

Re: a fourth reason

[conuly]

...

What do you think on this issue of letting pet dogs in hardware stores?

Re: a fourth reason

[redbird]

I think that it's generally not a good idea, because some people are either badly allergic or afraid of dogs. Also, random pets are generally not as well behaved as service dogs; too many people say things like "it's okay, he's friendly" meaning "I'm not going to stop my dog from jumping on you" rather than "my dog has never bitten anyone, and hasn't jumped on a stranger since he was a puppy."

Service animals should be admitted (including to food shops, where the Board of Health won't allow pets). But the difference between "I need this dog to guide me around the store" or "this animal will alert me before I have a seizure" and "I am trying to walk more, and I like bringing my dog with me" is large.

Re: a fourth reason

[conuly]

Reasonable. Haven't really given it much thought before myself.