sigmaleph:

nostalgebraist:

It’s always weird to me how I see all these arguments on here about “charity to one’s enemies,” and whether this is some sort of subcultural nerd fetish, or, like, a reactionary thing, or whatever, when the most extreme versions of “charity to one’s enemies” espoused online are basically classed under “don’t be a dick” by most people I’ve encountered IRL

Like, obviously not everyone succeeds at this 100% of the time, but it seems widely accepted as an obviously good thing among everyone I know who isn’t some sort of hardcore internet argument junkie

Wait, seriously?

In my experience, when arguing with people in meatspace I’m almost always the one saying that [political group you dislike] isn’t full of completely incompetent/evil people, and such things. Not being a dick is reserved for the ingroup.

I’m mostly talking about cases where the enemies are being directly interacted with, rather than talked about as a distant group.

IRL, if you’re having a conversation with someone it’s likely that you’ll have to deal with them in the future, and also that they may come pre-selected as an unusually tolerable member of their category (say, if they’ve been vetted by the rest of your friend group).  On the internet, it’s possible to have an extended conversation with someone you’re not likely to ever encounter or care about again, and this leads to a lot of uncharitable behavior that would be very unusual IRL.  Of course it makes sense that this happens on the internet, given the difference I’ve just described, but a preference against that kind of interaction doesn’t strike me as unusual at all, since it’s basically asking for the same kinds of conversations that one is used to IRL.

In other words, the internet lets you be uncharitable with impunity in a way not available off of the internet, but it’s not weird at all that some people react negatively to this.  It doesn’t read as “normal behavior” unless your sense of what’s normal is shaped primarily by (certain parts of) the internet.

(via sigmaleph)