when not to argue

Published on 2019-01-05 by Mohd

I tend to not back down from debates. That's not to say that I don't concede when shown to be wrong. What I mean is that I don't back down from arguments and debates that a smarter person than me won't even engage in to begin with. Some examples:

• Arguing with moon landing hoaxers
• Arguing with flat-earthers
• Arguing with anti-vaccination people
• Arguing with 9/11 hoaxers
• Arguing with deep state/Freemasons/Illuminati hoaxers

I was once a very devout Muslim. A Muslim's faith in god is absolute. Muslims are taught from birth that if there is one absolute in this world, it is the divinity and oneness of god. You are not supposed to even think in your head that you might be wrong. One day, this is precisely what I asked myself. What if I am wrong about my belief in god and religion? Once I sincerely asked myself this question, my belief started fading away, and science replaced in my heart and mind what used to be my faith.

Now I ask myself if I am wrong about my beliefs all the time. And it is this that keeps me arguing with nut jobs. Because I always ask myself what if I am wrong and they are right? What if they have some evidence that I have not yet seen that may change my beliefs?

I used to think that this was a good thing to do. I am not so sure anymore. I'm starting to think that I should pick my battles far more wisely. The idealist inside of me is struggling with this a little bit. On one hand I don't want to be closed minded and give people the chance to prove me wrong. But on the other hand, vast majority of conversations with people who hold widely controversial beliefs turn out to be a waste of time.

I'm going to try and stick to these rules from now on. I'll amend them overtime as necessary:

• Don't engage in debates/arguments on the following topics:

  • Moon landing hoaxers
  • Flat Earthers
  • Anti-vaccination folk
  • 9/11 hoaxers
  • Deep state hoaxers
  • Religion
  • Politics

• If the opposition doesn't seem to want to debate or doesn't seem to be someone capable of admitting being wrong, bail out

• If you have to repeat something more than twice, bail out

• If the opposition isn't providing evidence, bail out

• Use simple and easy to understand language

• Don't talk about too many concepts at once, people tend to get confused

• Don't argue/debate/discuss with people who are full of themselves. The outcome won't be pretty.