Yeah, that seems to it modern America; admitting expertise matters is “elitism” or “fascism”, depending on the politics of the people in question. Because I hear the same kind of thing from the Left, too.
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Really? Because I’ve been cruising message boards for over 25 years now and nearly all of them have a list of “forbidden topics”. One, for example, forbids absolutely any mention of the Israeli vs. Palestinian conflict from the 1940’s to the present and has for all of the 20 years I’ve been a member. It’s really not uncommon. If you haven’t encountered it before maybe it’s because you haven’t engaged in any taboo topics on those boards, and thus were not aware of the taboos?
Yeah. An example from RPG.net where they banned expressing support for Trump the last time he was in power that I recently saw re-posted elsewhere:
The reasoning was that posters were saying they supported Trump as a way of dogwhistling support for bigotry, letting bigots get around the rules.
Perhaps the appropriate leeway for “don’t post the following opinions, with the rationale being that they usually imply maybe possibly supporting these other opinions, which are the bad and forbidden opinions” should be different on a message board about roleplaying games vs. a message board with two different forums allegedly dedicated to political debate.
Two from Isaac Asimov that I feel compelled to quote periodically:
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
… and …
"Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.”
Spot on.
Fortunately that rule isn’t on this messageboard.
When one is simply wrong about something, why should it matter whether one person corrects them, ten people do, or a hundred people do? Wrong is wrong. You keep using this phrase “piling on.” Sure, for practical reasons we shouldn’t spend too much energy telling someone something nine other posters already told them, but it’s not an emotional, juvenile “waa waa they’re piling on me!” kind of thing.
Indeed.
Sometimes the reason everyone is telling you you’re wrong is that you’re really, really wrong and refusing to accept the obvious.
It’s the same as when everyone tells you you’re an asshole.
(generic “you” applies above)
Assuming other people are “assholes” because everyone like you is telling them so IS being an echo chamber
Assuming that people are calling you an asshole because other people are calling you an asshole instead of because you’re actually an asshole is being an asshole.
That’s very clever but being an asshole isn’t the same thing as being wrong.
It’s a good thing nobody is doing that, then.
When six people tell you that you’re drunk, go lie down.
— Russian proverb
Well, I think we are using the term “asshole” as shorthand to imply someone is wrong about a particular topic because most people in the thread believe they are wrong.
Do you doubt that someone could pick literally any potentially partisan topic the the majority of posters on the SDMB wouldn’t come down on the left side of it?
Are we? Because in my experience it’s far more likely to apply to people overtly arguing in bad faith, posing disingenuous questions, deliberately and repeatedly misrepresenting what others had said, JAQing off and other behaviors that make a messageboard toxic.
Probably. But that’s not relevant to what I said, unless you think right and wrong are entirely a matter of personal opinion.
That is like saying that there is no right and wrong, just left and right.
Let’s give two different scenarios involving a poster who is an open supporter of the Republican Party.
In the first scenario the poster states that they know very well what the party stands for but supports them anyway. They have opinions that are not popular with the community here, and may get people griping about them now and then, but for the most part if they don’t engage in behavior that would get anyone in trouble, they’ll be tolerated and may find common ground with people outside of political discussions. We’ve had posters like that (and still have some).
In the second scenario, the poster makes false claims about leaders on the left. They repeat conspiracy theories, recite right wing talking points, and deny legitimate criticisms about Republicans. That person will get their posts attacked because that’s what “fighting ignorance” looks like. And that is what spurs many of the suggestions that people on the right are persecuted here.
People are entitled to their opinions (and others are entitled to their opinions about your opinions and so on) but people are not entitled to their own facts. This conflating of fact and opinion happens far too often.
Amen. Me too.
If I can second the amen on that.