Anyone with a minimal intellectual background will see this site consists mostly of terribly reasoned posts. I'm referring to mainly the popular topics like "Environment" section, "Politics" etc. but then again, each section is typically inundated with poorly reasoned arguments on either side of the issue, but mostly from conservatives.
I am generalizing which tends to exaggerate the matter a little bit. I want to be clear I'm not saying people are dumb or bad people, I'm just saying their premises and conclusions are often founded on water instead of solid ground.
I was wondering why this general trend is so? Is this the real spectrum of thought in America? A genuine representation? Or is there something about this site that attracts an overwhelming majority of inadequate rigor and woefully unfounded assertions?
Any thoughts?
I thought perhaps the answer might be the fact the URL contains "US" (message boards) and therefore anyone who wants critical discussion automatically knows US=uncritical thought. Yes? No?
Again, this is a only trend I'm denoting in America. If usmessageboads is a genuine representation of American thought then whoa! America is not what I thought it was! But my opinion is this site is not a genuine representation.
The first thing you need to realize is the demographics of the Internet is not an accurate representation of mainstream thought. Just by it's very nature, the Internet leans decidedly left. Most people who have the Internet are politically left-leaning. Conservatives always tend to be the last ones to adapt to new technology. Therefore, the 'general' Internet population is more left than the 'general population'. Believe it or not, there are hoards of conservatives who wouldn't even know how to turn a computer on, and aren't interested in learning.
From there, you have to realize message boards, blogs and forums are vehicles for people to express their views on issues. The most passionate expressers are generally liberals. This is because of the nature of liberalism. It's what liberals do. It's their reason for being liberal. Granted, everybody is different, and this is not to say that libertarians and conservatives, even anarchists, are not represented on a typical board. Generally speaking, the most vocal and active participants are left-leaning individuals because this is their gig.
So you are never going to find a general public forum on the Internet that isn't skewed noticeably to the left. Each year, that demographic changes slightly because more and more conservatives are becoming 'tuned in' to the modern communications era. There are also numerous activist groups who have libertarian views, helping to 'even the field' for the right. But traditional 'tea party type' conservatives are still pulling up the rear.
You made a rather interesting observation. You say that you find the poorly reasoned arguments are mostly from conservatives. I am a conservative and I find most of the poorly reasoned arguments are from liberals. Isn't that peculiar? Of course, I have read thousands of arguments from conservatives and liberals and I can't say that I've ever heard one state: "Let me give you my unfounded and uninformed opinion on this..." I've never heard anyone left or right admit: "This is my poorly reasoned argument for... whatever." I mean, generally speaking, I think most people post what they believe is a reasonable well-founded argument. So I believe your observations may be a result of your particular political leaning. Just saying.
Now, the way you go about dealing with a poorly-reasoned argument is to do as I do and dismantle the sucker. Point out the poor reasoning by showing where it is poorly reasoned. This will require more than your opinion, you'll have to actually find sources to support your counter-arguments and stuff, and this isn't always as easy to do as you would think. Mostly because the Internet is full of every kind of opinion imaginable, and some are very poorly-reasoned arguments or outright fruit cake nuttiness. And whoever you are debating with is likely going to criticize your sources as being biased, whether there is merit or not.
In short, my recommendation to you is to basically... get over yourself. Stop thinking that your opinion or viewpoint is some divine piece of wisdom the world cannot live without. That your reasoning skills are the greatest thing to ever come down the pike, and those who don't share your opinion are somehow lacking in reason. It could be that your perspective is just different, and you haven't tried to see things from another point of view. It could be the other person's reasoning is based on a different set of circumstances or life experience.
