The reason it works like this is because the people who agree with him have a dogma that they are more rational in essence than their opposition. So they can argue by assertion, but it’s unreasonable only when the other side who is so OBVIOUSLY wrong argues by assertion.
Due to their essence as being more rational, they needn’t put any effort into being rational.
It’s a very religious mindset. They just don’t get the joke.
I read Der Trihs’s posts, for the entertainment.
Sometimes (very rarely) I agree with him, and tend to quite surprised when we do but by and large he’s just nuts.
He’s the kind of person that, if he was right-wing, would be a questioning Obama’s birth place at tea parties.
I find myself running into Der Trihs a lot on the relatively few threads I post in, and while he’s hyperbolic as hell, and can be relied upon to apply brushes wide enough to stripe an entire highway yellow, he is at least both honest and reasonably logical in his arguments, once you get to the parts that aren’t colored by his expectation that ALL christians, and republicans, and some others, are evil. Inherently so.
Of course, this cheery and positive opinion of him may be colored by the fact that he’s on my “side” on several subjects. And at times I don’t even mind that fact.
Whereas mswas might be intelligent, but he is a dishonest scumbag when it comes to debate. He cannot stand admitting when he’s wrong, and he cannot back down from a point on which he’s wrong, so once he finds himself to be wrong about something he rapidly stops debating and quickly starts being an unmitigated dick. A good clue when this is happening is when he starts ;)ing.
I’d much rather debate with Der Trihs than mswas. Neither will ever admit to being wrong, but Der Trihs at least honestly thinks he’s still debating.
I admit I am wrong regularly. 
And my smilies are meant to indicate that I am not taking something seriously any longer, for instance, with this thread I haven’t taken it seriously for even one second.
my bold.
You’re not the first person to say this, and it always baffles me. I’ve never seen him make an argument at all. I’ve seen him make a lot of assertions, but no arguments. I’ve never seen him reason from a premise to a conclusion, or to cite anything, even wikipedia. And his assertions are so ridiculous that they damage whatever cause he’s promoting. Bush didn’t invade Iraq because he has a fetish for killing arabs, the pro-life movement is not motivated by sadistic desires towards women. (Some of them are women.)
I don’t mind Trihs. Sometimes he’s funny, and for whatever reason he doesn’t derail threads. But if he’s honest and logical in his arguments, then so is Glen Beck.
What’s there to take seriously in this thread? It’s a pitting or a poll, I can’t tell which. Der Trihs is unpopular. Wow, big shocker - he’s even more extreme (and rude) than I am!
On the other hand, behaving “unseriously” in a debate is pretty dickish when your specific goal is to try and “win” the debate through pissing off and derailing the person who debated you under the table. Which is your way. If you were just trying to be funny without the scummy motive it would be a great deal more entertaining.
Like I said, you have to catch him when he’s not arguing the “You and your ilk are evil, rah rah rah” line. For example he’s pretty articulate when it comes to the arguments for the existence/nonexistence of god, like the POE - though he still does occasionally foray uselessly into “all theists are morons, rah rah rah” territory.
(I mean, they are all morons about the one thing, but it’s pretty compartmentalized stupidity. There’s no nead to get all hyperbolic about it.)
It all depends on the thread and the subject. I’ve seen him use reason and logic to debate in a calm, measured way, if the subject isn’t one that touches one of his buttons in any way. Check out some of the nuclear power debates…he uses cites to back up his positions fairly well. Of course, I’m a bit biased, since I happen to agree with his general stance on that issue. Same goes for certain debates that touch on science or technology…again, if it’s not one of his hot buttons he can be quite reasonable and as informed as any but the really vertically knowledgeable 'dopers on the board.
If you DO touch on one of his hot button issues then there is no debating him…he merely asserts his position and no amount of pounding your head against his brick wall will get him to budge one iota. It’s just the way he is…he see’s anything touching on his world view as black and white, with himself as the white hat and anyone even remotely disagreeing with him as evil AND stupid.
-XT
This just comes in with the sense of entitlement that a few people such as you and **Czarcasm **have where you think that I should somehow agree that you ‘won’ the debate, and that if I was unconvinced by your ‘winning’ that I am just being dishonest because I appear smart enough to get that you are oh so obviously right that the only explanation for further disagreement is spite and deviousness.
So, is Der Trihs okay or not? Does he keep his chi centered? Does his spearmint change its flavor on the bedpost overnight? I think I like the guy.
I think something most of us could agree upon is that IF Qi existed, then Der Trihs’s would be imbalanced.
Nah, I just wish that you would either a) substantively disagree, as in with actual arguments and debate, or b) shut the holy goddamn fuck UP for the fucking sake of all that is fucking goddamn holy for the fucking love of fucking god!!!
But instead you prefer to go down the passive-aggressive debateshitting be-a-dick route. What makes it so infuriating (besides the fact that you are deliberately trying to be infuriating) is that I know you’re not a mindless twit - you’re intellgent, but using your intelligence for evil.
And yeah, I know you’re totally chuckling with glee at your ability to pull my chain through your dickish antics. In my defense I forget about you completely when I go home.
Yeah, I should have specified that I was talking about his hot button issues. He can be reasonable and interesting on things like space travel and technology, which is one reason he really doesn’t bother me and I’m glad he’s not banned.
Heck, I’d agree with that, and I kind of like the guy when the black spider suit hasn’t taken control of him.
Sometimes I make my argument and all there is to do is repeat myself.
Actually what you are describing would be aggressive-aggressive behavior.
That’s good. I generally forget about you too.
Then there either is Qi or Qi probably has nothing to do with balance. Because he’s one mofo. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walk around on a hip, a shoulder, and an ear.
This thread is ample proof that there are people on this board far more worthy of being ignored than Der Trihs.
Yeah, but sometimes Kanicbird can be entertaining. 
You never know what he’ll pull out of his ass next.
As if Carrot Top kept all his props in his rectum, and not just his favorites.
I missed this thread until now, but I must say that Der Trihs is a problem for me. Every time I see him post I am tempted to argue the conservative side. That really pisses me off. I am so fundamentally opposed to the conservative side but all his posts are so clearly full of shit it is hard to stop myself.