The day I realized I was arguing in bad faith for years

I used to get into online debates about campus speakers all the time, always assuming the other side just wanted to silence opinions. Then a poli-sci professor at my old school pointed out I had never actually read the full transcripts of three talks I was defending. That was five years ago and I still remember how dumb I felt.

2 comments

2 Comments

allen.cole5d ago

That moment of realization hits hard. I had something similar when I got called out for defending a political figure without actually reading their full voting record. Thought I knew it all. Just took someone actually asking me to name three bills they sponsored to realize I was just repeating what I heard on cable news. Good on you for owning it.

cole_robinson5d ago

Right, because it's way easier to have strong opinions about something you haven't actually read. I did the same thing with a whole political philosophy book, just quoted the one paragraph my friend told me about for like six months. Then the professor made me actually read the chapter and I realized I was arguing against a point the author literally spent a whole section disproving. Nothing like having your entire worldview hinge on a single out-of-context sentence you heard on a podcast.