Funny pictures of politics and world affairs

[Monsterboy]

Hey, can we have the 'Funny pictures of politics and world affairs' thread open again ? I think it has been a long time.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Hey, can we have the 'Funny pictures of politics and world affairs' thread open again ? I think it has been a long time.

I hear that, but with our guidelines it wouldn't really work. It would be a nightmare to moderate as discussion would inevitably ensue. Politics outside of education and sciences has become so toxic it's something we choose to distance ourselves from.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Keep away from politics. It's the last thing in life that anyone wants to get into.

 

[fresh_42]

Keep away from politics.

Politics, religion and philosophy: everybody has an opinion, everybody is right, and all others are wrong, and of course neither camp can really prove their side, or even worse, there is a study or a book to support whichever camp. I think among these, philosophy is the least toxic, and even that didn't work.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Politics, religion and philosophy: everybody has an opinion, everybody is right, and all others are wrong, and of course neither camp can really prove their side, or even worse, there is a study or a book to support whichever camp. I think among these, philosophy is the least toxic, and even that didn't work.

But politics is the worst of three - you'll have to admit that. It can get you into the worst of troubles. And that is true worldwide.

 

[Monsterboy]

everybody is right, and all others are wrong, and of course neither camp can really prove their side

You know i just read an interesting article about why arguing over the internet is mostly pointless.

https://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/10/the-backfire-effect/

The last time you got into, or sat on the sidelines of, an argument online with someone who thought they knew all there was to know about health care reform, gun control, gay marriage, climate change, sex education, the drug war, Joss Whedon or whether or not 0.9999 repeated to infinity was equal to one – how did it go?

Did you teach the other party a valuable lesson? Did they thank you for edifying them on the intricacies of the issue after cursing their heretofore ignorance, doffing their virtual hat as they parted from the keyboard a better person?

No, probably not. Most online battles follow a similar pattern, each side launching attacks and pulling evidence from deep inside the web to back up their positions until, out of frustration, one party resorts to an all-out ad hominem nuclear strike. If you are lucky, the comment thread will get derailed in time for you to keep your dignity, or a neighboring commenter will help initiate a text-based dogpile on your opponent.

What should be evident from the studies on the backfire effect is you can never win an argument online. When you start to pull out facts and figures, hyperlinks and quotes, you are actually making the opponent feel as though they are even more sure of their position than before you started the debate.

The backfire effect is constantly shaping your beliefs and memory, keeping you consistently leaning one way or the other through a process psychologists call biased assimilation. Decades of research into a variety of cognitive biases shows you tend to see the world through thick, horn-rimmed glasses forged of belief and smudged with attitudes and ideologies.

 

[mfb]

You are not discussing to persuade your discussion partner. You try to help other readers.

 

[Monsterboy]

You are not discussing to persuade your discussion partner. You try to help other readers.

Yea, in a discussion about science and math, there is not much scope for arguments because there can only be usually one correct answer and other people can learn by going through the discussion . In politics there is probably no "correct" answer and discussions can snowball into arguments when their deeply held personal beliefs come into play.