Shut Up

There are too many times in this terrific world of ours when well-reasoned discourse falls by the wayside. For instance, there are many times when a logical argument would be helpful instead of fists. Or perhaps simply a listing of grievances, a la Martin Luther, or the many, many self-help books and couples' therapists in the world.

But I'm not here to talk about those times. I'm here to talk about the times when well-reasoned discourse is pointless because the other party is so beyond reason that trying to be logical with them is like trying to explain calculus to a rock. They aren't operating logically. They don't pretend to be. And the mistake there is wasting one's time trying to reason with them, when it's clearly pointless.

In some cases, these people have strong opinions, and those opinions run counter to one's own. There's no point in arguing; just accept that these people hold different opinions and move on. Far too much time is spent trying to argue people out of their opinions. If someone sincerely believes in the existence of God, for instance, there's not much point in arguing with that. You can argue with their reasons (I wouldn't recommend it, personally) or with the conclusions they draw based on this axiomatic belief, but if you simply try to argue someone out of their opinion on the existence or non-existence of God or gods, you are wasting your time.

Then sometimes, people are wrong. I'm not talking about opinion. I'm talking about fact. 2+2=4 kind of facts. This is the type of person you will encounter over and over again on the Internet. They are convinced of the rightness of their opinions and facts, and separating the one from the other is tough, and the facts are wrong, and the opinions are counter to your own. So you try to reason with these people. You try to tell them that they're wrong, that 2+2 does not in fact equal 5. You tell them that Barrack Obama isn't a Muslim, that John McCain does not have an illegitimate black child. You try to tell them that nowhere in the Bible does it say that God hates fags. You try.

And 99% of the time, you fail. You are wasting your time. These people are too stupid to understand that they are wrong. Who knows, maybe you too are among the ranks of these people. How many times have you been wrong and not known it? How many times has someone told you that you were wrong, and you didn't believe them because they happened to hold an opinion counter to yours. Because we allow people's opinions to sway our beliefs on the truth or falsehood of their facts, we all fall prey to this particular human flaw.

But the biggest flaw is trying to argue with these people. Don't bother. Just ignore them. Don't tell them they're wrong. Don't tell them anything. The best policy is to pretend that you've said, "Shut up you moron," to them and ignore them.

So, for the record, people who believe that guns are primarily used to hunt animals: shut up. Ditto to those who believe Barrack Obama is a Muslim or John McCain has an illegitimate black child. Shut up if you think that Communism is still the biggest threat to truth, justice, and the American way. Shut up if you think that entering Iraq has helped American security, or that we found weapons of mass destruction. And you people who believe that the death penalty saves money. That "a well-regulated militia" doesn't involve some element of state control or regulation. That the Bible says God hates fags.

I could go on. Every single day I run into people like this. And I used to feel an intense need, desire, almost an irresistible urge, to tell these people that they are wrong. They wouldn't listen to me anyway. So shut up, you stupid, stupid people. Shut up. God, just shut up.