All they want is to be right and to convince the other they’re wrong.
Beyond convincing them they’re wrong, it can seem they want the righteous vindication of a concession. They want their opposing interlocutor to proclaim the error of their ways and denounce their former position. It can lead to just beating down an opponent to the point they don’t even reflect on the full discourse. Sometimes you need to make some solid points and leave it at that. When people are flat out denying facts they usually fall into one of two groups. The first group are the Fucker Carlsons and removed McConnells of the world. They know they’re lying and pointing out facts won’t matter. The other group is people who haven’t employed much critical thinking to the “facts” the first group provides. Either they’ve fully committed to the lies and are lost causes, they haven’t had the time to truly flesh out their positions, or they might categorically lack the mental faculties to use critical thinking.
For the former group, they are playing their role and won’t change no matter how foolproof your argument. So putting out facts at the forefront can help to have that information available to contrast the propaganda should someone from the latter group see.
For the latter group, no one wants to be wrong. So being systematically shown to have been duped and lied to can cause some pretty typical defense mechanisms. Enter cognitive dissonance. So making a few points and trying to not be abrasive or confrontational can set them a little more at ease. You need to allow them some time to process. Trying to force some “win” can cause them to just dig in deeper to their preconceived notions. Then it’s harder to pull them out.
Beyond convincing them they’re wrong, it can seem they want the righteous vindication of a concession. They want their opposing interlocutor to proclaim the error of their ways and denounce their former position. It can lead to just beating down an opponent to the point they don’t even reflect on the full discourse. Sometimes you need to make some solid points and leave it at that. When people are flat out denying facts they usually fall into one of two groups. The first group are the Fucker Carlsons and removed McConnells of the world. They know they’re lying and pointing out facts won’t matter. The other group is people who haven’t employed much critical thinking to the “facts” the first group provides. Either they’ve fully committed to the lies and are lost causes, they haven’t had the time to truly flesh out their positions, or they might categorically lack the mental faculties to use critical thinking.
For the former group, they are playing their role and won’t change no matter how foolproof your argument. So putting out facts at the forefront can help to have that information available to contrast the propaganda should someone from the latter group see.
For the latter group, no one wants to be wrong. So being systematically shown to have been duped and lied to can cause some pretty typical defense mechanisms. Enter cognitive dissonance. So making a few points and trying to not be abrasive or confrontational can set them a little more at ease. You need to allow them some time to process. Trying to force some “win” can cause them to just dig in deeper to their preconceived notions. Then it’s harder to pull them out.