Thread by @owenbroadcast

one thing about watching a ton of debates (while working) on a variety of different topics is when i jump into a new one i can instantly tell who actually has the stronger argument based on the fact that when backed into a corner people make the same appeals, regardless of topic

im interested in what i would call this type of "innate rhetoric", it obviously isnt officially learned, but it could be in religion, politics, some totally unrelated field, when people get "pinned down" the instinctually reach for a handful of "outs", intuitively. fascinating.

for example i just put on some random street debate + after one guy makes a statement the other guy is like "yeah, i just wonder why you're doing this like, why do you care so much", the brain has this self defense feature naturally built in like a spider knows how to make a web

because its not logical and lacks any actual informational content. "well thats just my opinion" (okay? ofc it is). or "why does this matter so much to you"? you can feel them desperately trying to parachute out of the 1 on 1 idea vs idea.

https://twitter.com/dorf09387311/status/1370035095260778496?s=20

as some may know, attempting to power through this (not combatively irl, just if someone wants to talk about something) and im eternally fascinated by the fact that it just doesnt work. you can even show the person that theyre doing it and explain it and they just keep doing it.

i fully admit its a pathological obsession of mine but i just cant get over it. recently i let someone bait me into an argument (fun sometimes, to me), and i did this. i stopped him each time and explained "this isnt logical, you're just saying something emotional", or [...]

"you're trying to ascribe a pathology to me to dismiss what im saying, this is called appeal to motivation", and showed him every time, as an experiment just to see what would happen, and it just doesnt work. they cant compute it. its like showing them an impossible object irl:

theres a part of me that, deep down, feels like if i was locked in a room w someone for 100 hours that i actually could power through this. i truly feel like through brute logic i could make someone see their irrationality. i cant give up this maybe (ironically) irrational view

i [behave] as though people are basically irrational and cant be convinced via logic (ever) but i feel that if i accept it at a deeper spiritual level, idk man i just cant do it for some reason. i "know" its true and behave as if its true but i refuse to "truly accept" it.

yeah all of this is slightly theoretical now as outside of “actual debates” (rare) irl im much more “strategic” if im forced into talking about worldview differences etc

https://twitter.com/the7sages/status/1370046402714288129