Weekend Diversion: Fighting on the Internet

“When you roll around in the mud with a pig, you both get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.” -Old Folk Wisdom

One of the things I’ve learned over the time I’ve been blogging is that, no matter what position you take on any issue, whether it’s science, politics, religion, morality, or anything else, is that there will be no shortage of people willing to argue against it. Perhaps it’s for the best that Jeff Tweedy didn’t think of that when he wrote his most excellent song,

Because while many issues really are mere differences of opinion, it stirs up intense feelings of frustration when people are misinformed about facts.

(Image credit: xkcd.)

And initially, I found myself getting sucked into many of them, figuring that if I stuck to the highest levels of this argument pyramid (sourced from here), the argument would get us somewhere.

Perhaps if everyone were genuine about searching for the best, most sound arguments to reach their conclusions, and if we were all willing to change our positions when our arguments were exposed to new facts, this would actually work. After all, I’m wrong about things fairly frequently, including just yesterday, and I strive to do my best to get it right in the end.

But — and my most diligent commenters and comment-readers know this — sometimes people simply say things just to troll. Every once in a while, I wind up saying something, and each time I do I wind up wishing I had just left it to the wonderful community that you, my loyal readers, make up, to lay the smackdown on them.

So I had a good laugh when I came across this comic, and thought that many of you would instantly recognize your favorite internet trolls (as well as the frustrating futility of arguing with them) the farther down you go.

(Image credit: Rosscott, Inc.)

So thanks to all of you who help call out the trolls on their trollish behavior, and for encouraging me to keep the level of discourse high and informative; I’ll keep trying to not repeat my mistakes of the past!

In the meantime, a great weekend to all of you, and I’ll see you back here on Monday with more of what we actually know about our Universe!

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