Originally posted by: jstewa22
I agree with LiveFree's approach, it costs nothing to be polite but firm and intellectually rigorous, even in the face of insults. Most importantly, if someone is hostile it's far too easy to dismiss everything else that they have to say; we're all vulnerable to the halo effect.
But surely you've seen that even when Miller presents his dogshit in an aggressive and confrontational manner (i.e., 98% of the time), it's often given a legitimacy it doesn't deserve and is discussed rationally by others.
You see, it's not his dogshit per se that we all dislike. It's how he presents it. Much like with non-metaphorical dogshit, we don't care if the neighbor's dog poops; we care if he does it on our lawn and we have to smell it.
There are myriad other sources for MAGA thoughts (nothing Miller posts is original), and many of them, such as Fox Nooze, are at least civil, even if they're lying through their teeth, So let's flip around what you said. If Miller presents a genuinely interesting topic worthy of discussion, but does so in his usual nasty, confrontational matter, insulting and calling liars everyone who may disagree, screaming TDS TDS TDS, etc., doesn't that degrade the quality of whatever discussion may arise?
To put it another way, if someone walks up to someone else, shows them a newspaper article, and says, "What do you think about this, you stupid, ignorant asshole?", are they likely to get a thoughtful, reasoned response? Is constructive dialogue going to be generated?
I disagree that it costs nothing to be polite to Miller. It encourages him. But worse, it constitutes endorsement of his approach to propaganda dissemination. It's the equivalent of turning the other cheek. The result of turning the other cheek is that the same attacker hits you a second time. And a third.