1y ago

If you ask someone "why?" enough about a subject you don't agree on, eventually both of you will come to a conclusion

Many hold strong beliefs and opinions, however not many know the roots of their belief. If a person agrees to explore it, both of you will learn something new and fascinating. The problem is finding someone who wants to think and ask the questions. This goes for both. Many want to "convince" someone, but how much do you truly know about the thing you're trying to prove?

This also comes back to the "why?" game so many kids play. Parents get annoyed by it, but are they really annoyed at the game or their lack of knowledge depth? Play the game, find out how deep you lake of knowledge goes

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66 comments

Or, alternatively - you'll be accused of Sealioning
- Haha, yes that indeed might be a problem! Any idea how to approach this without being incredibly annoying?
  
  i've never come across this before but this is an excellent term. nobody is entitled to an unchallenged opinion but at the same time forcing someone into that type of conversation is unlikely to be productive.
  
  I think the only way to avoid it really, is for the two people to agree in advance that they will each be open to questioning and will take the process in good faith. Know what yoiu are getting into.
  
  Nice meme, never seen it before haha
- Whoops! I may have been guilty of this in the past
  
  Haven't we all.
  More annoying though, is when you are really trying to understand the other person's point of view and they shut down debate by the accusation of sealioning. There should be a word for that
  
  The word is "tired", I think. A lot of people just don't have the energy to answer the whys and are used to bad actors using why to exhaust them. So when it comes to things like racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia...etc.. it's a) an exhausting subject to begin with when its aimed at you, and b) a magnet for disingenuous bigots and trolls, so people will just shut down the conversation rather than try and explain their whole existence.
  Honestly, I think isms are the only times when sealioning is sealioning, because that's the only time you get people arguing in such bad faith.
  
  I think the only time I was accused of it was when trying to engage with a climate change denier. I wouldn't be surprised if they were tired. I'm not particularly sympathetic.
  
  Oh, that's a thing that status quo lovers do where they steal a useful term and turn it against us.
  
  "Rockin' all over the world"?

66 comments