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kleinbl00  ·  1282 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Republican senator says ‘democracy isn’t the objective’ of US system

Can I give you a tip, OB? I just had an insight.

I'm not sure where you learned to debate like this. I suspect it's a performative pantomime of your parents because it presumes (A) neither side will convince the other (B) neither side will stop talking (C) the winner is whoever gets the biggest rise out of their opponent.

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It's one of the three ancient arts of discourse and forms the basis for all debate. The goal of rhetoric is to alter someone's viewpoint. Taunting, on the other hand, is belittlement for social status. In a taunt, it is presumed that neither party will be won over by the other and the only stakes are which side will lose more face.

See, Ben, you don't debate. At all. You taunt. And maybe you don't do it on purpose? But every comment you make in these discussions doesn't serve to compel your counterpart or the audience. They serve to belittle your counterpart in order to increase your social status.

There's a place for taunts. But trying to convince someone through taunting is the equivalent of shouting "BLACK LIVES MATTER" at Richard Spencer.