Change The Spectators' Minds

I've been arguing with people on the internet since the 90s. Sadly, this doesn't make me an old man. It means that I was a petulant brat back when I started. I was picking fights with trolls and idiots, probably acting like both of them more often than not.

Through my teens, I was fighting to win. I really thought I could argue somebody into submission. If I could refute every claim a person made, they would eventually run out and realize they were wrong. I can count on one hand the number of times that worked.

As I grew older, I calmed down. Arguing with strangers became boring (and aggravating and depressing). It was an exercise in futility. There was a constant stream of new people saying the same dumb things, and there I was making the same arguments day after day, seeing no change.

I stopped arguing with people because the reality eventually hit me that I can't change the minds of the willfully ignorant. People who will ignore facts in order to maintain their position are completely incorrigible.

I didn't drop out of the internet, nor did I leave the message boards I hung out in. I just stopped posting so much, choosing instead to read. During this time, I saw that discussion continued on, arguments still took place, and plenty of others were ready to take up the mantle on either side.

What was interesting was that during this time, I found many arguments affecting my thoughts. People on sides I would normally oppose had interesting things to say and they made me question some of my long-held beliefs. And there was the revelation.

The internet is a public forum. There are people talking, other people talking back, and countless more only listening. People arguing with each other may not change their opponents' minds, but they can greatly influence the onlookers.

We all have beliefs. Some of them are very precious to us. If we truly believe them, then we must be willing to defend them and to educate people who would denounce those beliefs. Argue with them, and do it in a public forum, whether it be a live debate or a stream of letters to the editor in a newspaper, and do it because you know that other people are listening. They are undecided people, or at least those who could be convinced opposite of their leanings. They are the people you must reach before somebody else reaches them first.