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the Sartre quote always comes to mind
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
I don’t understand why it is structured as a pyramid
Its the recommended daily internet arguments per USDA guidelines.
- At the bottom are your ad hominems, these lay a good foundation and give you the required dopamine for the day.
- Then come your basic civility criticisms and tone policing to make sure everyone treats you with the respect you deserve.
- Contradictions are of course necessary to make sure your position is represented and to make it harder for opposing views to get traction.
- A few counterarguments here and there make sure that you get a bit of research done in order to be able to form new arguments. This is a good idea as arguments age over time and need to be replaced every so often.
- A refutation is of course a long-term source of dopamine that you can refer back to in the upcoming days for a quick hit by marvelling at your own argument.
- If you have taken care of all your daily internet argument requirements and still have time left, why then you get to do some name-calling. As a treat.
You should always start your argument with an ad hominem and, if it doesn’t work, slowly work your way towards insulting your interlocutor, the highest form of rethoric
