Debate is pointless, on the Internet.

More rain, sigh.

Anyway, I have a small observation. I’ve noticed this before during the election but since the Democrats have gained control of all branches of government it seems to have gotten worse.

I mean that the art and science of debate no longer exists on the Internet when it comes to our government. Right now, it is actually pointless to have any type of discussion on the Internet concerning politics. It almost always devolves to who can out-insult the other side in an attempt to win their point. Or one side will just claim the other side has no standing to make their point in the first place. Usually due to some insulting reason.

For instance, after the government tax-and-spend protests on tax day recently I’ve seen quite a bit of this nonsense. Especially on digg.com which has basically turned into a cesspool of hate for anyone who has a disagreement with anyone else. A large number of people seem to disagree with the intent of the protests. So they try to convince us, those that do agree with the protests, that we are wrong by insulting our intelligence (they’re just stupid! they don’t even know why they were there!), freewill (they were paid to be there!), intent (they’re just greedy!) and/or civic duty (they should be happy to pay taxes for our government to give them stuff!).

To make my point, here’s the end of the first round of a mock debate at a prestigious school under the terms presented to us by these people:

FOR: “And that is one reason that we must punish BOTH parties and end this era of enormous government spending, that began with the previous Republican administration and continues with the current Democrat administration, to make sure that the next generation is not given a crushing debt that will take further generations to pay for.”

MODERATOR: “Excellent. Now, for the opposing viewpoint we have someone who feels they are smarter than every one else in the world. Your response?”

AGAINST: “Yeah? Well, you’re too stupid to even know what you’re talking about you neocon moron! Stop being so greedy and pay your taxes for the good of the country! But I’m sure you don’t even make more than $200,000 a year, because you’re too stupid to hold a decent job (who would hire an idiot like you?), so what are you complaining about? You qualify right now for a tax credit! Unless you’re rich you will be paying less taxes now! Moron!”

MODERATOR: “After that splendid and excellent rebuttal I think there’s no reason to go further with this debate. The team representing Against obviously has the greater understanding of economics and fiscal responsibility, therefore they win this debate.”

FOR: “But…”

AGAINST: “SHUT UP YOU TORTURE-SUPPORTING RACIST NEOCON! GO HOME TO YOUR GUNS AND BIBLE YOU RACIST, NAZI FASCIST!”

FOR: “…but I’m not even a republican…”

And that’s what people think is a proper debate? No use of facts to back up your statements. No use of common sense in your statements. Outlandish attacks on someone that you don’t even know, but you assume you know everything about that person? Apparently the only goal is to shout down someone who simply disagrees with you.

I ran into this often when commenting during the election. I did not support McCain as the choice for the Republican party and did not plan to vote for him. But I did take offense to statements made about Palin when she was chosen as the running mate. Often times they were just attacks on her being a woman (“women aren’t smart enough”, well, just the GOP ones I guess), being a mom (“she should stay home and raise the kids”, it’s all women are good for apparently), her religion (“she’s a wacko nutjob because she believes in something I find stupid”, note that they don’t complain about Obama going to church), her experience (“she’s not experienced enough to be President”, even though she was running for Vice-President) and I could go on for days.

Almost every time I tried to have a rational discussion as to why I thought they were being unfair the response was often just an insult. No attempt to counter my arguments nor show me why I might be wrong. Nope, the usual response was I’m just a stupid Republican and I should shut up.

Even though I’m not a Republican. I can think for myself thank you very much.

But it appears that some don’t bother to think at all. This scares me a little.

All this from people who claim to be the open-minded ones as compared to those that they oppose. But they also seem to like the idea of using their free speech rights to make people they disagree with be unable to speak their opinion. It’s as if they are saying, “Your opinion disagrees with my opinion, therefore you are wrong and you have no reason to speak in the first place.”

This is the future we are in for and if things continue as is then it’ll only get worse.

I’m worried for my young daughters.