Stop Writing "Misconceptions About ____________"

TesticleMonster
Stop Writing "Misconceptions About ____________"

One, just stop. Its getting really sad that you need to justify yourself to us and it looks absolutely ridiculous. For one, you're not convincing anyone who didn't already believe in that thing that you're trying to convince people of. Two, you're not the foremost authority on anything. You're just some asshole on a website who can't comfortably believe in something without forcing others to realize how mistaken they were about their alternate perspectives that differ from yours, and you need to actively reframe their perspectives as if they can't actually see what you've said and done at face value from the very beginning.

I'm sorry but there are no "misconceptions about feminism". People either see feminism for what it is and what it does, or they see feminism for what it ostensibly is and what it is "supposed" to do in your delusional ideal world. And if you really need to justify it to the world and you've decided that people don't have a right to decide for themselves whether your movement is a benefit to them and the world, its probably because its not.

There is a great article by a philosophy professor that explores this very topic, and i really urge anyone with any kind of critical thinking to read it and consider the arguments that he's making.

https://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978

Stop Writing "Misconceptions About ____________"

There are no "misconceptions about democrats" or "misconceptions about republicans". there's people with different viewpoints and that's okay, but frankly, not all viewpoints are valid. And if someone tells you they are, its probably because their opinions are not valid. In fact, most people with valid opinions can recognize that the 2 party system is broken, whether they can agree or disagree on the causes or solutions, having eyes to see the mess that is right in front of you is kind of a prerequisite to having a valid opinion.

I don't care what opinions you have about that mess, but denying outright that its there is not a good strategy if you want people to accept anything that you have to say. And people don't write posts about "the misconceptions of x, y, or z" because they want to facilitate a discussion, or because they're interested in any other viewpoints than their own. They want people to agree with them, to surround themselves with people who engage in a circle jerk of homogenous ignorance, because they line their ideological security with majoritarianism, not facts. And then they want to criticize the people that openly disagree with them on their own post as if its their fault for being blind and not seeing what you, the lord and god of this pseudo-political topic, have just decreed is now irrefutable fact. and i see "get off my post, you're the one who came here and commented when no one asked you to" ALL THE FREAKING TIME.

Stop Writing "Misconceptions About ____________"

You want to surround yourself with this bubble where no one disagrees with you ever, because you feel safe in it, but thats not how the scientific method works. You need to challenge your own opinions, your own hypotheses, and only if they still hold up when you've thrown everything in the book at them, can they ever truly be verified as fact. So one can never really consider their own opinion as "factual" until they've presupposed every other opinion as valid, and explored that train of thought to its inevitable conclusion and see if that changes the results.

Don't gish gallop and shower someone with a boatload of assertions that they couldn't possibly rebut in real time. That doesn't mean you won that argument, that just means you know how to bark louder and faster than they can. Don't tell someone they can't argue facts you haven't mentioned from sources that don't exist. They won't be able to argue that, because you didn't say anything TO argue. That still doesn't mean you won. Don't call someone ignorant for not understanding as you do. Even if they are ignorant. Because thats not an argument. Thats an attack. Thats not how discourse works, that doesn't PROVE anything. All it proves is you're not able to come up with a logical rebuttal.

there's another great article pertaining to that idea here:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-08-12/only-stupid-people-call-people-stupid

But the takeaway of it is this excerpt here:

"I'm always fascinated by the number of people who proudly build columns, tweets, blog posts or Facebook posts around the same core statement: I don't understand how anyone could (oppose legal abortion/support a carbon tax/sympathize with the Palestinians over the Israelis/want to privatize Social Security/insert your pet issue here)." It's such an interesting statement, because it has three layers of meaning.

Stop Writing "Misconceptions About ____________"

The first layer is the literal meaning of the words: I lack the knowledge and understanding to figure this out. But the second, intended meaning is the opposite: I am such a superior moral being that I cannot even imagine the cognitive errors or moral turpitude that could lead someone to such obviously wrong conclusions. And yet, the third, true meaning is actually more like the first: I lack the empathy, moral imagination or analytical skills to attempt even a basic understanding of the people who disagree with me."

If you can't contextualize the opinions of other people within a paradigm that makes sense, then you've failed to consider a paradigm that is tautologically consistent. You don't have to agree with people to understand them, but you have to understand where they're coming from to know with any surety that you've created a sound argument. And that's the problem with these mealy mouthed "misconception" posts.

I dare any one of them, based on the assumption that their arguments are dogmatically and universally true, to come up with a single explanation as to why such a blatantly obvious truth could ever be misconstrued by someone, and what that person could possibly believe or have experienced (besides just being vaguely "ignorant") that would lead them to such an extremely deviated misconception. Because i have a tautologically consistent explanation for their viewpoints. Can they even come close to saying the same about mine?

Stop Writing "Misconceptions About ____________"
19 Opinion