What phrases or topics immediately shut down your interest in a conversation?

[lord.jeff]

Other then the "I'm not an asshole but here's me being an Asshole" crap, I've started to hate the phrase haters gonna hate I've seen it used to many times as a dismal of valid points. Also I really hate arguments about proper word usage.

 

[Legion]

Arguments made using emotion as opposed to logic.

People who use the phrases "Am I the only one...?" when asking for peoples opinions and "First world problems" as a criticism of people mentioning their issues.

The first because it's pointless, especially as in 99.9% of the cases, they are most certainly not the only one to have that view. The latter because it comes across as smug and condescending, as if you do not have the right to be unhappy unless you spend your entire life on the brink of death or in permanent danger.

Not really a subject, but as soon as someone abuses the word 'literally' I am filled with contempt.

I am always tempted to say "As opposed to metaphorically?" whenever people misuse it.

 

[Sutter Cane]

Any mention of logical fallacies.

How about coming up with a real point, eh guys? ;p

Oh god this. I hate seeing an argument on these forums devolve into each person pointing out different logical fallacies in each others posts, it ruins good forum drama.

The phrase "let me demonstrate my point with an analogy" makes me hate myself for ever having tried it and realise that any subsequent post will simply be people pointing out tiny holes in it. After someone has used an analogy you should just bail.

So you're saying that we should just let faulty logic slide? Sorry not going to happen, at least for me. If you're going to make an argument, at least make sure it's a proper argument.

 

[Euryalus]

-When people just say "Your argument is an X fallacy" rather than just explaining what is wrong with the statement! For God''s sake, the name "Strawman" is an analogy for what the fallacy is (misrepresenting an argument, then "fighting" it). Apparently the internet thinks it means "you're wrong."

- Framing religious or political debates in such a way as to make reality seem simple.

-"There's an exception to every rule"
...That statement logically destroys itself XD
If there's an exception to every rule, then there's an exception to the "there's an exception to every rule" rule. That exception being there are rules without exceptions. (I know it's a turn of phrase, its logic just irks me)

-"when you've blah blah blah then you can criticise me"

 

[Weeden Project]

Whenever people start talking about their relationships or anything related to that, my brain instantly shuts down all senses.

 

[Vegosiux]

Examples? Recently there was that lad in my TS talking to a mutual friend how he was stopped by the police on the way home every day during the week at the same spot. After asking him if he did memorize the face of the officer in question to file in a complaint he answered that those guys in uniforms all look the same to him. After that I knew that he was just another bloody left-winged idiot and that is exactly what I said to him with the statement that if he found it such an annoyance that the police stopped him every day he could've done something about it. He than started yabbing about how his eyes are bad to what I could only reply that pub, mine are worse than yours - unless you are blind.

So when you say "left-winged" you actually aren't referring to anyone's political affiliation, but are rather using the expression as a derisive term towards someone, anyone, you happen do disagree with or dislike, without even knowing what their political leaning actually is?

Seriously. Not two weeks ago you called someone a "left-wing stoner" on this board, someone who's actually quite right-wing and shares your dislike for the left, at that.

For one: As soon as someone tends to rely on memes and viral videos instead of / as addition to his arguments. If you can't be assed to form a sentence then I can't be assed to continue talking / writing to you.

Well if you can't be assed to actually get a proper picture about people before calling them "left-wing stoners", then don't expect them to take you seriously either.

I mean, what would you do if that guy went "LOL ur just a fascist wannabe, HURR DURR I WIN" at you? I really wonder, since it'd be one of those "perfectly symmetrical bigotry" kind of things.

 

[Marter]

Fallacies completely undermine any attempt at a meaningful discussion. Logical fallacies should not be tolerated - pointing them out is the right thing to do. Most people probably don't even realize they are doing it, and it makes us all dumber if we accept them.

I mean really. How do you suggest dealing with a logical fallacy if not by calling it out? You can't argue their point, that's setting yourself up to fail. You can't ignore the argument because that makes it seem like it's such a good point that you don't have an answer for it. It might be annoying, but it's necessary because fallacies are so prevalent.

Any attempt at meaningful discussion? I think you overestimate their impact, for one.

And for two -- and I can't speak from experience because I don't remember actually being in an argument in which a fallacy was brought up -- bringing them up at all often tends to make the argument deteriorate and wind up far less enjoyable to read. Once I see that, I'll stop reading a conversation that I was enjoying, simply because I can figure out where it's headed.

I agree that they can devalue a debate, and I don't even really mind someone occasionally calling them out, but it's the amount they're leaned upon as a crux -- as the point, instead of just as one tool -- that really bores me.

 

[Vegosiux]

I agree that they can devalue a debate, and I don't even really mind someone occasionally calling them out, but it's the amount they're leaned upon as a crux -- as the point, instead of just as one tool -- that really bores me.

But that's just it. A fallacy is not a tool. A fallacy is the result of faulty reasoning and misapplication of logic. Of course, getting caught in a fallacy does not necessarily mean you're actually wrong, but it does shoot a hole in your argument.

 

[direkiller]

-When people just say "Your argument is an X fallacy" rather than just explaining what is wrong with the statement! For God''s sake, the name "Strawman" is an analogy for what the fallacy is (misrepresenting an argument, then "fighting" it). Apparently the internet thinks it means "you're wrong."

I think it's because most people on the internet alteast stopped by the carnal sideshow known as young earth creationism and if creationism was a person, the strawmen fallacy would be its' sex doll.
Most people start out explaining it but people quickly get jaded to the explanation and calling just start calling it what it is. A steaming pile of lies or a logical fallacy

 

[Canadamus Prime]

"ripoff" - It's clear to me that people who throw that word around don't have a clue what it means. Or at least it doesn't mean what they think it means. Just because something is similar to something else, doesn't mean one ripped off the other.

"Racism/racist" - It's become so over used and token, not to mention applied to the stupidest things that it just doesn't mean anything anymore and whenever I read/hear it all I can do is roll my eyes and move on.

"Hardcore Gamer" - In my mind "Hardcore Gamer" = whiny dipshit.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

"Feminism" as a trojan horse style vehicle of a rather unsavoury and mostly genuinely silly political agenda; "Mass Effect", "Assassin's Creed" and "Bronies". I'd rather talk testicular or breast cancer or go to the dentist to drill some holes just for the heck of it.

 

[In Search of Username]

'I'm right because [tradition/nature/history] is on my side!' No it isn't, it's just a collection of shit happening at random.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

"I'm not a racist, but..."

Nothing ever good ever comes after that statement.

"As a mother, soldier, random asshole...etc"

Yeah that is nice, unless the conversation is specifically about something you have dealt with as being one of those things then it doesn't apply.

"I'm not racist, but this salad is delicious."

OP: Politics for me as well. It never can be a civil discussion on preferred policies without some sort of debate happening, can it?

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Polarizing American politics, gay marriage, abortion (to be brutally honest, maybe it?s just because I?m not a woman ? generalizations, ahoy! ? but I just don?t see why it?s even an issue in the 21st century), rape (especially ?rape culture?, or what constitutes rape?it?s not fucking hard to define; it?s non-consensual sex), the ?will someone think of the children?!?-type talking points?

*breathes out*

?circumcision, the now-meaningless knee-jerk hot-button term of ?racism?, the Justin Bieber ?hate? bandwagon, anything to do with ?family values?, the imaginary ?friend zone?, people dismissing other people?s complaints about certain things as ?first world problems?, people spouting the word ?strawman? like they?ve got fucking Tourettes, etc.

 

[Vegosiux]

-snip-

Well, my main nit to pick here is the fact that you seem to assume everyone who leans to the political left is an idiot - that's how you come across. I mean, truly, if someone is just being stupid, why the hell would their political affiliation matter in the first place. Why the need to point it out?

Do you call people who lean to the right, and are being stupid, "right-wing idiots"? Do you call people who are in the political center, and are being stupid, "centrist idiots"?

Or is "left-wing" the only one you actually mention, as if being "left-wing" is in and of itself a crime that makes one's idiocy even worse? There are plenty of non-idiots on the left wing, and by refusing to acknowledge their existance, and the existance of idiots on all other segments of the political spectrum, you come across as rather bigoted.

 

[MorganL4]

Anything that references the supermarket tabloids.

 

[Gabanuka]

'I'm right because [tradition/nature/history] is on my side!' No it isn't, it's just a collection of shit happening at random.

....did you just suggest History and Traditions are random occurrence?

I'll agree with you that nature in random but with the others you can easily see a progression of events. Hell that's what history is; the story of how everything is linked.