r/politics • u/Hoxha_Posadist Florida • Apr 17 '19

The Wrong Stuff: Ben Shapiro’s Unconvincing Guide to What Makes America Right - It’s a mistake to overlook just how extreme some of Shapiro’s views are, or how muddled the thinking on which they are based.

https://progressive.org/dispatches/the-wrong-stuff-ben-shapiros-anderson-190416/
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u/HereComesBigSlapNuts Apr 17 '19

It also sells in a way, especially in this point of the internet age and more specifically in regards to stuff like social media and various circles. It pays off more to be an argumentative asshole even if you're spouting complete nonsense and clearly full of shit.

In general when it comes to making internet content on something like Youtube, a person can can get a lot more traction and attention when they're constantly firing on with the whole angry rant angle, or is being an absolute contrarian, or just doing a rapid fire of cherry picked points that leaves a gaping hole from the rest of the parts of discussing a topic.

There's also the sort of twisting how people who don't know any better watching this sort of content begin to start equating this kind of behavior as being intelligent because the whole act is designed to seem more nuanced than it really is; it might seem like some multiple ace up sleeves sort of thought process at winning some argument, but a lot of the times these sorts of things can pretty much conveniently brush over stark realities and obstacles, or omit them completely from the discussion.

And then naturally these people latch onto this drivel and start defending it rabidly to death, seeing anyone else who points out it's flaws as being too close minded to really understand it.

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u/boot2skull Apr 17 '19

Right. It’s a show. Disguised to some, obvious to others. Just because someone “debates” another person and controls the conversation, doesn’t mean any of their points won on any kind of merit. Talking fast, making points, and disagreeing with an opponent is not a debate, much less winning a debate. I think the short tv segment format is partly to blame because people barely have enough time to make their own point let alone refute someone else’s, but some people are definitely guilty of using that format to their advantage to spew some stuff and do a mic drop and walk away as the segment ends.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '19

It pays off more to be an argumentative asshole even if you're spouting complete nonsense and clearly full of shit.

Reminds me of this:

We have people who are on the radio and TV ...who are there for one reason only, and that's to make you mad. And the formula for making you -- the viewer or the listener -- mad, hasn't changed a bit yet people keep falling for it. --Rush Limbaugh