palerider wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 12:05 pm
lazarus wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 5:10 am
Rubicon wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 3:59 am
my absolutely best behavior
I'm sure you can counter bad info while letting them live.
Wouldn't it be better for all of us if he DIDN'T?
You know, cull the herd, chlorinate the gene pool a little.
Valid perspective.
But in my personal opinion (nothing more than that), the newbies, lurkers, and participants often learn more when they see wrong ideas politely thwarted with logic; specifics; and impersonal, detached disagreement without it seeming to be a personal attack.
Yes, I know, that can be a bit tedious to do. But when it is done that way without distraction, the truth is often elevated further than it otherwise would be.
Letting the "enemy" live without humiliating him allows clarity in all "wars" of ideas. Seeming to silence dissenting voices (even particularly foolish ones) can appear to others as suspiciously close to loyalist group-think or vying for alpha status; whereas, a patient rebuttal can stand for all time, even when merely whispered under one's breath barely audible when before the tribunal.
You don't have to engage a troll to post a brief kernel of truth that stands in the thread forever for thinking people to recognize and reason on.
And a mild rebuke from a respected poster (of which I certainly consider you one, Palerider) can do more to prevent any mass misleading taking place than any emotional reaction that could tend to discredit the very truths being championed.
Of course, that's from the perspective of the arena of truth, which I admit is not quite the way things always work in practice in the Roman Colosseum once the gladitorial sides line up.
