Discussing politics and other contentious sunjects online feels to me like it’s counterproductive these days and even though I try not to get suckered in, I often can’t help myself. Usually though I just end up feeling frustrated and sometimes angry at the other person either missing my points or refusing to accept them.
Thinking back to conversations I’ve had here and previously on Reddit, not only can I not remember an example of me “winning” the discussion and the other person changing their mind or conceding the point, I also cannot think of a time where my mind was changed either.
So have you ever begun a discussion online with someone with a different view point to yours and either you, or they, changed the others mind?
yes, a lot. but it was a decade or two ago.
there were a few subreddits long time ago where I was popular precisely for debating people and ideas and regularly got messages about how interesting my comments were and how they made people re-evaluate things they believed or thought. after I left there were some posts about ‘where did he go?’
but post 2016 or so anytime I do that it just results in name calling and being labeled and demonized. open and civil discussion in general is just harder to facilitate online or in real life… because more and more people perceives it as an existential threat. i have noticed especially the past few years all the toxic online attitudes are filtering into the real world.