Remindes me of the tweet that said something like “My favorite moment on the internet was when someone said, they believe that people will changed their mind when given evidence. Then I linked TWO SOURCES that said otherwise and they were like I still believe it.”
Or when a hexbearian explained to me that hexbear isn’t toxic at all, it’s just when people refuse to read sources but than it’s their fault for not engaging with the material. Later they refused to open my sources.
The person you’re talking to is unlikely to be pursuaded but there’s usually silent, invisible lurkers who can be.
I know I’ve changed my mind on things because of arguments I’ve read on the internet.
It is proven that people do double down on their views when confronted with opposing evidence, but IMO this is more about the psychology of trust and confrontation between individuals, rather than proof of the futility of argument as a concept. Hell, Vsauce made a video called ‘The Future of Reasoning’, where he makes the case that argument might have been selected for as an essential part of human psychology and necessary for our survivial.
Evidence shows that arguments are really only conducive to changing opinions when the person has a set of primers to find the person they disagree with otherwise agreeable. They refer to it as being in alignment with socio-epistemic conditions. Basically, people within a group identity can change opinions with others in the group, as long as the difference in opinion is not one that would be diametrically opposed to their group’s underlying identity. So, arguments between people from two different groups, like left v right, don’t really change minds towards the group they do not identify with. Those watching the debate will agree with the people who are in the same socio-epistemic group. This arguably makes public debate a bad thing. This is because those third party on-lookers will side with the person in the debate they most identify with for reasons outside of the debate. So you are simply platforming the person you disagree with, and possibly exposing people more in alignment with them, to an argument for a more extreme version of their position, rather than exposing them to a counter-opinion argument, to be considered.
Here is a good starting point on this subject, it links to a number of supporting papers early in the paper.
I remember being in a hotel once, and scrolling through channels and saw a concert channel playing a Bruce Springsteen show. And he’s sitting at the piano doing a little monologue about the song, and he doesn’t say douche, but refers to a cover (the Manfred Mann version) and it using “feminine products” instead of deuce, which is what he wrote.
I don’t know what Manfred said, but even the Boss thinks he said douche.
So Bruce Springsteen wrote the original version of “Blinded By the Light”. But Manfred Mann’s version was the one that was a huge hit. And Mann’s version does say “wrapped up like a douche” (versus Springsteen saying “revved up like a duce”).
I saw an interview with Springsteen where he speculated that was the biggest writing mistake he’d made. If only he’d said “wrapped up like a douche”, maybe his version would have sold better.
They're open on Boxing Day, as stated in the post. It's only usually businesses run by people that don't celebrate Christmas that are open (like Chinese restaurants, and that one gas station run by a Pakistani family in my old rural town that saved my hide in 2012 by being open after I forgot to get gas on Christmas Eve).
Most movie theaters are open Christmas Day in the US as well, not just boxing day. I’ve been to quite a few movies on the 25th. Tons of major films are released Christmas Day because it’s such a high grossing day in the industry
Hm, I guess I have seen that, but never considered that it could be a high-grossing day. My wife's family would burn us in effigy if we tried to suggest leaving the house during the day so I've never really thought of it much.
If we don't come to Christmas it's as though we've killed the very concept of happiness. We'd never hear the end of it if they found out we went to a movie instead.
I worked in a movie theater as a kid, and Christmas Day was the highest grossing day of the year. Families came in all wearing coordinated Christmas outfits, saying all sad, “Aw I hope you get to spend time with your family today.”
I’m here / to remind you / of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me.
(I used to think the line was about her ex refusing to return to her a teddy bear that he apparently gave her as a gift. Which rather fits with the song’s theme and just seems dickish and spiteful on the ex’s part.)
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