Nov 18, 2010 09:48
So I'm having a meta-argument with my wife. We were discussing an issue last night, (one that we actually agree on 100%) and she, (understandably) got increasingly frustrated with the way that I have to take every argument I make or refute to the hypothetical extremes.
So I've been thinking about it today, and I'm coming to realize my problem: I can't disengage.
There is a part of me that fears (irrationally) that if I don't engage every argument thrown at me that I'm at risk of transforming into a conservative. The thing that always puts me at such odds with people on the right is the frequency with which their arguments are without substance. They may say something like, "Being gay is bad." and then when you press them on it, you eventually get to a point where they say "It just is." And that's that.
I *hate* that. That style of argument drives me crazy because I feel that when I can bring 87 points of disagreement to order, they deserve to be addressed, and this places in me a pathalogical fear of doing the same thing to other people.
And it would be fine if people only *brought* rational arguments to the table, but the problem emerges when the initial point is so stupid it doesn't deserve to be addressed.
For example: I have had long drawn out discussions with holocaust deniers. I shouldn't. That is an argument I should just take a step back and a deep breath with and say, "You're a fucking idiot. Eat a bag of hell cakes." And be done with it.
But this crazy part of me CAN'T do it. They lay out their argument, and I take it point by point, "Even if X were true, here are 87 other reasons you're still wrong..." then they go "y" and I say, "Even if Y were truere, here are 86 other reasons why you're still wrong." And so on, and so on, ad infinitum.
I have to learn to. I have to take some advice from good old C-Lo Green and just say, "FUCK YOU" and be done with it. Wash my hands of the fools of the world and stop becoming a crazy person to argue with their craziness. It isn't good for me, and it sure as hell doesn't change them.
So I guess what I'm here today to ask is this: How can I learn to disengage?