Elwar
08-08-2007, 10:34 AM
I have debated a lot online about politics for years, going back to the days of telnet and BBSes. I discovered one small thing that helps give my comments a bit more credibility and doesn't give an easy opening for rebuttal.
Delete the last line of your comments, or just stop if you're considering putting in that last little dig.
Example:
(Responding to someone saying getting rid of the income tax is crazy)
The income tax constitutes 42% of the federal government's yearly income. If we were to cut back our spending by 42% we would have to go back to the spending we had in 2002. Besides, the IRS is nothing but a bunch of blood sucking nazis that want to drain you of every last penny that they can.
---
That's a bit exaggerated but you get the idea. The first part is a factual, reasonable statement that would need to be responded to with a lot of thought and perhaps a bit of research. The second part is an emotional cry that can easily be refuted with an equally emotional response with no substance and makes it so that your original reasoned argument is completely ignored.
Just a simple tip. I tend to catch myself at times and delete the last line of many statements.
If people weren't so stupid and took the whole argument into account then I wouldn't have to worry about editing my responses.^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H
Delete the last line of your comments, or just stop if you're considering putting in that last little dig.
Example:
(Responding to someone saying getting rid of the income tax is crazy)
The income tax constitutes 42% of the federal government's yearly income. If we were to cut back our spending by 42% we would have to go back to the spending we had in 2002. Besides, the IRS is nothing but a bunch of blood sucking nazis that want to drain you of every last penny that they can.
---
That's a bit exaggerated but you get the idea. The first part is a factual, reasonable statement that would need to be responded to with a lot of thought and perhaps a bit of research. The second part is an emotional cry that can easily be refuted with an equally emotional response with no substance and makes it so that your original reasoned argument is completely ignored.
Just a simple tip. I tend to catch myself at times and delete the last line of many statements.
If people weren't so stupid and took the whole argument into account then I wouldn't have to worry about editing my responses.^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H