This is my first Take, most likely my only Take, and it will be very brief.
I trust nothing on the internet. I believe that anyone who picks a fight on the internet is both a coward and an idiot. When I was younger, I would get into often very heated debates online with people who I felt the intense need to prove wrong. If they called me stupid, I would invoke my brilliant school record and high IQ to disprove their claims. If they disagreed with my beliefs, I would lecture and rant and provide sources to support myself until they either ceased responding or gave in (rarely happened, obviously).
With age, however, I realized something: Who the hell was I trying to prove myself to? These people I argued with didn't know me, and they didn't understand the things I had experienced to make me think and feel the way I did. I learned about internet trolls, and about those low-lifes who had no better way to spent their time than to instigate trouble from behind a screen.
I realized such people were cowards, and often found that those who started tremendous arguments online were some of the most passive or people I'd ever seen when in real life. Of course, this doesn't go for everyone, but I think it's safe to say that, from personal experience, most of the people eager to start trouble are only doing it because they're behind screens, safe from actual backlash. They don't think of or deal with the consequences of what they do. They just like to infuriate people for the hell of it.
At this point, I have stopped caring. Some things still bother me, yes. But for the most part, I cannot be bothered by others' opinions of me. In a world where people are facing more and more harassment and abuse for their opinions, why should I get into fights with someone who won't face me in real life to say what he/she will online? I'll say whatever to anyone, online or in real life. I'm not a coward who fears backlash. I'm a very honest person-I don't try to be rude, but I don't sugar-coat things. If someone online calls me stupid, I don't bother correcting them. I'm not going to give them the pleasure of seeing my negative emotions. I feel like most problems that occur online would be better resolved if people just didn't give in and find the need to respond to manipulative posts meant to evoke their negative reactions.
Eh, that's just a thing I've noted. I don't bother answering things online. I'll share my opinion. If you don't like it, or say something against it in a way that is rude or offensive? I won't reply. Some might say this myTake is a reply in itself. I'm not intending it to be. I just wanted to throw out there some personal feelings: I no longer care for dealing with the trolls of the internet, or those who throw out ignorant or rude comments just to bait others.
I like this site as a means of getting opinions, but most of the time it seems like a constant battle between people of differing sides not willing to tolerate the others. I'm done with that. Have fun with your petty ways.
Wow. Load of stress of my back. Try it some time. Peace~
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If a high IQ test score and a good school record made your opinions more valid then everybody with those things would have the same opinions.
The fact is our views come from our emotional development and there is no school record for that or even a standard to say whether one emotional view is better or higher than another (apologies to Maslow). Our emotions evolved to help us survive, not to make us good or smart.
It reminds me of that old episode of the Simpsons where Homer slips out of the marriage retreat to go fishing for a giant catfish, and when Marge catches him, he says "But Marge, if I catch that fish I'll be a hero". She says, "To who?". He responds, "Those weirdos back at the bait shop". That is pretty much the kind of audience you're trying to impress on the internet.