Conversations with genuinely stupid people

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

Some prick - "I know freedom of speech gives you the right to troll, troll, but what makes you think you should give your opinion or that people will care???"
Me - "I didn't really think people would care, but considering people keep telling me they don't like my opinion, then they are caring too much about my opinion on some screechy guy."
Some Prick - "Why would you respond? Stop trolling."
Me - "You asked me a question."

I'm laughing for real right now.

Oh, man. You poor bastard.

Spoiler: OT. Pony-related.

I was browsing e621 (Why was I on e621? Why do you think?) a few weeks ago and I came across this comic: http://fav.me/d4z7wek. I've linked to the DeviantArt version, so please take a moment to read it and understand what I'm talking about. It contains ponies, but I think anyone who understands poker can get the joke.

Anyway, Rarity (the white one with purple hair) in the MLP:FiM show is literally the avatar of Generosity, capital G, so whenever she does anything that isn't giving selflessly to the poor or something similar - read: every time she has a character flaw or behaves a certain way for a joke, which literally every other character has done on a multitude of occasions - the idiots in the fandom call her a greedy ***** and wonder why anyone would like her.

Sorry if this is getting king of tangential, but this is the e621 comment that I'm ultimately making reference to:

As usual. Rarity's a *****.

To which I replied:

Really? Wanting to win a single hand (hoof?) of poker makes her a *****?

To which he replied:

Think about she takes snacks (The diamond shaped like a heart) from a baby dragons. She sweet talk stuff from other pony for her own benefit and she always tries to steal the spot light from her friends when it suits her... Really how can she be the element of generosity with that track record... If she was generous she would do what dash is doing and try to get fluttershy to at least play the game right and win if need be instead of pretty much gloating about wining because her friend let her win. That's rarity for you.

This likely doesn't seem like much, but keep in mind that:

- All Rarity did was comment on how pretty the diamond was. The baby dragon in question gave it to her completely of his own free will
- She's "sweet talked something from other pony" literally once in the show's run, and it was for the benefit of a friend
- "Stealing the spotlight" (which, again, she's literally done about once) isn't being un-generous, especially if the spotlight wasn't being used in the first place

Also, Rainbow Dash (arguably the least likeable person and the most against her element, which is Loyalty, in the entire series) being used as a counter-argument made me want to punch a baby in the face. Then people started agreeing with him, and eeeeueeuugughghhhh . . .

Spoiler: OT. Not pony-related.

YouTube comments are a great place for this kind of crap.

[On a video discussing Spec Ops: The Line]

Some idiot: So basically this is what would happen if Jack Thompson decided to make a game? Why is this a good game again?
Me: Not sure if troll. Did you not watch the video?
Some idiot: Yep it hates violent video games and the people who play them. The entire thing is a gigantic moral outcry against violence in games and equates fictional death to be as serious as real death. At the end it makes a straw man argument against the player because the writer thinks he knows why i play these games. The game uses Nolan North as the main voice actor because they think that the uncharted games, a fairly light hearted Indiana Jones homage are totally evil because violence is evil.

 

[Lieju]

Yes, but a big reason is that it's just not formatted for real discussions. So people who'd have actual discussion just don't bother posting there.

You didn't read my example.

There's a difference between people who'd have a discussion and people who are genuinely stupid.

Yeah, but it's generally difficult to tell on-line if someone is ignorant, dumb or expressing themselves poorly. In Youtube even smart people often express themselves poorly.

As for stupid people, I have had discussions with some actually mentally challenged people. It's actually interesting, since they can think in such a different way from 'normal' people.

For example, I tried explaining evolution to someone who couldn't understand that things can be more than one thing, that for example a dragonfly can be both an invertebrate and an insect.
(She wasn't opposed to the idea of evolution or anything, and she honestly tried to understand, so talking to her was much more pleasant than talking to someone who has made her mind that they're right and have no open mind)

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

I usually don't have this problem, as I try to avoid any prolonged conversations on interntet forums. But before I began enacting that little policy, yes, I did have to deal with quite a few racists, homophobes, and just downright mean-spirited people (never on the Escapist, though).

As for in my real life, it's not much of a problem either. I know very few (if any) truly stupid people. I know some ignorant ones, but that's not the same as being flat-out stupid, and they're usually polite enough that hot-button issues can just be avoided if need be.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No because I don't bait or feed the trolls. I get where you were coming from but you have to realize that you were arguing with a brick wall. This is the Internet, what did you think would happen after your first reply?

Most Internet arguments are like arguing with a brick wall even when you're not dealing with a troll. When a troll is involved it's like bashing your head against a brick wall with spikes on it.