John Whittet offers up some good advice for debating online. The post is specific to Newsvine, but has universal appeal….
1. Ignore all points.
You can’t be bothered to read a well-formed argument, so don’t! Pick up one or two words and run with them. Ignore all subsequent comments or repeat the contextual selection. (Required Reading: Straw Man and Slippery Slope.)
2. Step through at least three degrees of separation
You want your arguments to follow this general pattern: “A implies B implies C implies ‘sweeping statement’—QED.” Bonus points if you apply HTA#8 here: call pro-lifers “religious zealots” and pro-choicers “pro-abortion”. Example: Barack Obama knows Bill Ayers, and Bill Ayers is a terrorist, so therefore Obama is a Muslim1 terrorist.
3. Attack the messenger
Do you know the old adage, “Don’t shoot the messenger?” Fuck that; shoot him. Example: The Wall Street Journal? That’s just a front for Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing shadow organization!” (Other fun examples include Fox News and The Huffington Post.)
Read the whole thing….
