Here's why you're getting muted: You were asked, twice, to apologize in general. By choosing to apologize for one tiny corner of your argument, you are steadfastly refusing to apologize for everything else. This isn't a negotiation: you pissed me off and priority 1 is to make me not pissed off. Once you've accomplished that we can move on and, perhaps, continue the discussion you apparently wanted (but were unable to broach without being offensive). The simple task was "stop offending me." Instead, you chose to scold me for being offended. You, who has already admitted to not knowing when you're being offensive. Here, read this again: The ignorant things you said are not the issue here: the issue is that you chose to use your ignorance as a plank to attack my knowledge. That's never going to work, and it's never going to bridge any gap of communication. You state in as many words that you are ignorant about this subject. Instead of looking for more information on the subject, you castigated me for having an opinion about it. Here, read this, too: How is this my problem? How is your tendency "to get wrapped up emotionally on a topic and then say stupid things" not something YOU should be cogent of? And given the above, how am I not owed a blanket apology for the effect of your inappropriate affect? This is the third time I've made it clear that you owe me an apology. Not a conditional apology, not a half-assed apology, not an apology contingent on my further meditation on what a bad man I am and how I don't know what "discussions are for." You: - have a problem with online discussions (your statement) - are ignorant about politics (your statement) - often offend people by accident (your statement) - only need say "oops, sorry, didn't mean to offend you." Try it. It's liberating. I'm sensitive to your mental health issues and am having a challenging enough day as it is but sweet jesus, dude, you were wrong, you were a dick and I need you to try really hard not to do that anymore. Okay?I apologize for THAT statement.
There are tons of people that are ignorant about politics at levels that exceed mine. These are 99% of the population, and a large portion of them vote in elections. Being angry at them doesn't actually improve the situation even if they say dumb or ignorant things.
See, I have a problem (as in a personal problem, not a grudge problem; I think being clear about what I'm saying right now is extremely important) with internet discussions as a whole sometimes, especially in regards to politics. I tend to get wrapped up emotionally on a topic and then I say stupid things like that statement I just quoted before thinking it through.