Conversation

If your position is thoroughly thought out and solid, then people trying to ask you 'gotcha' questions shouldn't be threatening. A bad-faith inquiry won't have any impact - you can honestly answer, because your position will have fully grappled with the ugliness already. 1/

190

Aella

@Aella_Girl

I'm a little put off by public forums that refuse to answer 'gotcha' questions from the opposition. Why?? If the opposition has the power to make you bleed then maybe you should be looking at the gaps in your armor instead of yelling at them for using a spear.

2:56 AM · Jul 30, 2020

Replying to

People sometimes just do not want to admit they are wrong especially to a person or group that would jump on it and use it as the sole point of their argument against yours

Replying to

sometimes you're peddling a glib fantasy in the service of a greater good. don't want gotchas ruining that, since you might have a good defense, but it sounds messier than the fantasy you're pushing.

Replying to

The best defense I'm aware of is, all solutions have parts that sound bad to an audience that won't have time to think as much as you did. If you're the only one who talks about the messy parts, it looks like it's the only solution with messy parts. I kind of buy this? I think?

Replying to

Assuming the only goal was noble inquiry, yes. But, rhetorically, a well designed barb is inherently harder to catch than to throw and so discouraging them from being thrown (by refusing to answer across the board) effectively IS armor.

Replying to

I think part of it is taking caution in what one speaks because a 3-5 minute response that cites sources could end up distilled down to a 2-3 second clip.

Replying to

If the audience is listening in good faith, then the I totally agree, but it’s really fucking tough with a hostile audience. If I’m arguing against one person using gotcha questions, I feel confident I can defuse the bad faith... 1/2

Replying to

Sometimes forums are for people who have already adopted the theory to make use of it and they aren't interested in conversion. Outsiders coming in asking them to justify their axioms is just disruptive.

Replying to

Coming from science, I constantly refuse to answer gotcha questions. Anyone deliberately wasting your time with questions that take far longer to explain the answers to than to formulate is not adding value to the process and doesn't deserve your attention

Replying to

this is why people need to be told what to do