But the point I and others have been trying to make is that a troll is only interested in trolling.
Gack, for his other faults, doesn’t seem to fit that. As far as can be told, he (along with evangelicals and other would-be proseltyzers) appear to have two main purposes: (1) affirmation of their own belief structures and (2) the odd person to convert.
Sure, they know that the vast majority of people are going to be provoked (and may even be engaged in some low level trollery there) but they aren’t on a quest solely to piss people off.
I would agree, except that now the record shows that he is not wanting to have discussion but to continue to repeat already clear demonstrated lies, And I have to see yet a single convert for all his efforts over here.
Heck, even a crazed preacher in a plaza at UC Berkeley tossed to the trash all his tiny fliers he was distributing when I showed him that the information in his fliers was full of lies, they contained a complete misrepresentation of what big apes are really capable. (Not better than humans regarding violence and dirty sex, in fact there can be much worse than humans.)
I would think that a sincere person would thrash the bad information as soon as it appears because it is important to be aware of the the audience you have, (mostly academics over there 15 years ago at Berkeley and there are a few academics here in the SBMB).
A troll would just see that and happily continue to distribute lies after others already reported to him how wrong he is, he does know that what he is doing now is to piss people off.
Exactly. Particularly in online spaces that serve as discussion areas, it can be far worse to ignore trolls or horrible people. Demolishing and discrediting Holocaust deniers et al isn’t necessarily for the denier’s benefit but for all the lurkers/readers following along.
Lurkers who already know BS claims are BS may discover new-to-them information, learn how successful debaters detect denier’s fallacies or lies and see how to clearly present rebuttals. Lurkers who may be on the fence (often from not knowing a HUGE amount about the topic and seeing the denier having tons of facts and figures that supposedly back him up) absolutely deserve to see those arguments demolished and reach a better understanding themselves.
Isn’t that the entire point of “fighting ignorance”, after all?
I find it particularly distressing to see these “not human” claims in a thread about someone denying the goddamned Holocaust, which was carried out precisely because the Nazis believed Jews (et al) were less than human. I mean, for fuck’s sake! :mad:
I am now looking forward to the post where Gack proves the Holocaust never happened using a paper towel tube.
(The inevitable next step from his proving the Holocaust never happened using a singed chicken.)
It doesn’t match the sheer self-deluded awesomeness of the paper towel tube test, but Gack’s backyard chicken barbecue test as substitute for mass human cremation is up there.
I think if you offer to emigrate him with extreme prejudice - or since he doesnt understand what ‘exterminate’ means - you might have some leeway there.
