Why I No Longer Debate FOX News Trolls…
There are many reasons why I no longer debate Fox News trolls. Several years ago when Obama was running for his first time I was pretty sure the democrats had blown their chance at winning back the presidency when they nominated Obama. I liked him, he sounded like a man of good and honest character. I knew Republicans were going to hate him for a ton of made up reasons. And to be honest, I just thought there was no way America was going to elect a black man as president. I mean we are talking about the US of A here, a country that re-elected Bush knowing full well, he was a complete idiot. A country where millions in the deep south still praise the Confederate flag. However, to my pleasant surprise, he won the election.
In the time prior to the presidential election I was having daily debates with an old family friend. He had fallen victim to the FOX News cult of stupidity. He was sending me the most racist bullshit and when I called him on it, he said I was overreacting, it was a joke, it wasn’t racist. For months and months I wasted hours daily responding to his emails. He would bombard me with the most ridiculous half-truths and lies. I countered all of them with facts and links to those facts. He almost never would respond to what I said. Instead, he’d just send along another question with a link to another crazy conservative blog or FOX News site. I would again drop what I was doing and take the time to factually respond to him. When he did take the time to reply to the information I sent him, it was always the same. “You’re getting that from the lame-stream media!” It didn’t matter if it was an official government document or not. No source could be trusted according to him unless it was from FOX News or some conservative blog.
At one point he sent something from one of the blogs he follows. I read it and I was stunned at the lies and misleading information it provided. Information that had been taken completely out of context. The shit this blog was saying blew me away. I mean it was bat shit crazy, cult type thinking. I get to the bottom of the blog page and in the footer section, I see the problem. The blog is run by a nutbag Christian that is selling books talking about how man and dinosaur walked the earth together.
The back and forth emailing went on for months and I eventually and I jokingly called him a crack baby. He took it serious and I apologized to him but he refused to accept it as I understand it. And, in some ways, I’m glad he did. I had asked him repeatedly to stop emailing me his ridiculous propaganda. I was getting at least two or three emails a day with his crazy bullshit. Once he got butt-hurt the silence was amazing! It felt so good. His lack of bullshittery in my inbox was like breathing in fresh air.
Over the years since then, I have seen the economy strengthen, and an end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. My broke ass now has health insurance that has since saved my life. I have seen marriage equality become a reality and I have seen the capture and killing of Osama. And, through all these world changing positive things, I have watched the republican party do nothing but tell their party that it’s all been a bad thing. That the economy isn’t really any better. That the U.S. is worse off now than it was when Bush was in office. It’s insane.
The republican party is deluding it’s followers with lies and half-truths. It has become a party of severe paranoia and hate. The republican party has gotten its members convinced that everything is liberal conspiracy and sadly, these people are just too stupid to see it. And, the reason why? Because hate and fear, sell. When you convince people to only trust certain media sources because all the other have an agenda, you’ve got them. You have got to watch multiple sources of news to even begin to see other points of views and get a “fair and balanced” view of what’s happening in the world.
The republican party is deluding it’s party members with lies and half-truths.
For example, I have seen friends and others on social media talk about the rest of the world laughing at president Obama. I’ve flat out asked these people if they have friends in other countries. The response is always the same, “Nope.” And yet, they think this is the case because that’s what their news tells them to think. I work with people from all over the world. I have not met one of them that is laughing at Obama. Every single one of them agrees that Obama is doing a much better job than Bush had done.
I have spent hours and hours debating these kinds of conservative idiots on Facebook and you can’t win. You just can’t win an argument with these people because they refuse to listen. Their minds are made up. I have seen it over and over again. The delusion is always the same. They have become so stupid and reliant upon what their “news” sources are telling them that they no longer understand the difference between fact and opinion. When fox news throws out it’s right wing opinions under the guise of “News” they take it as fact. When you take the time to provide these people with facts, they refuse to believe it. There response is always, “I don’t believe your facts.” I always say, “They’re not ‘my facts’ and these aren’t my opinions They are simply the facts.” But, they don’t get that. It’s like they just have turned into mindless zombies and it’s really, really frustrating.
The family friend I mentioned earlier. He’s actually more of a friend to my parents. They know he’s a dumbass when it comes to politics. They just don’t like confrontation so they don’t say it. My father isn’t really into politics at all, but is very much into science and math. He has been debating with this friend on climate change. My dad who has read several books on the subject from varying points of views has concluded that climate change is real based on the available evidence that he has seen. My dad, when it comes to science and math is one of the smartest people I know. Even my dad has asked this friend to stop emailing him on the subject of climate change.
The reason my dad gave up on trying to explain global warming to him is because he refuses to listen. This family friend is doing the same thing to my dad that he did to me years ago. He’s spamming my dad with crap all day long asking him to explain this or that. My dad has spent hours trying to explain to him the science behind it all. He won’t listen, he ignores every single one of my dad’s responses.
What finally made my dad give up on trying to explain it to him was when this friend sent a link to an article that was saying global warming is a lie. My dad once again, went to the site or friend linked to him to, read the article and then responded with the facts, links to the facts and so on. Later that day the friend sent back another email with something else just as stupid as his last email. My dad asked him two questions. First, “Did you actually read the article that you sent for me to read?” and “Did you read my response and the links that I sent you in response?” Our friends response was, “No.” That was it for my dad.
This is exactly why I have stopped trying to talk to these types of idiots. These are people that have already made up their minds. They are simply too stupid to understand the difference between an opinion and a fact. And, you just can’t argue with or debate people that refuse to even listen to anything that doesn’t agree with the opinions they have already formed.
The problem is that the Republican party learned that you can cherry pick the facts and weave your own version of them to the public. And, once you have their trust, the rest is easy. I am not saying the democrats aren’t guilty of doing the same at times. What I am saying is that right now, the democrats haven’t taken up residency in crazy town, sure some democrats and liberals have moved there but not the hole party. Their overall message is one of equality, peace and truth. The Republican party has stopped in crazy town and taken up residency there. They party has been overrun with these Tea Party idiots. It didn’t used to be that way, I know, I used to be a republican. Not any more. I realized that their overall message was one of fear and hate they wrap up in a cute little bow and sell it to the public as patriotism.
