I spend a fair amount of time on in-person and online discussions about politics, civil rights, gun rights, etc. While I love a good debate, I have come to recognize that not all debates are worth having. So, if you’re reading this, I’ve determined that debating with you is not worth my time for one or more of the following reasons:
1. Ignorance on your part makes a debate pointless. Debating the relative merits of different viewpoints only makes sense when both people have spent a somewhat similar amount of time to educate themselves on the basic facts of a situation. By way of example, a person with a Ph.D in orbital mechanics would be wasting their time if they had a debate about whether the earth is round or flat with a person whose formal education ended at the 10th grade, and who thinks YouTube conspiracy theory videos which say the earth is flat are the pinnacle of knowledge. The situation is similar when I (as an attorney who has litigated cases involving police brutality and racism) am debating with someone who has spent all of 10 minutes thinking about the issues and whose sources of information are Trump‘s talking points. Since the amount of time I have available for debates is limited, that time is best spent on meaningful discussion with people who have taken the time to learn basic facts. It just isn’t worth my time to have this discussion with you as doing so would prevent me from using my limited time for a discussion that is actually meaningful.
2. Debating with you is a waste of time because you are debating in bad-faith. Some people’s lives are so devoid of meaning from work and enjoyable hobbies that they spend hours of their time online “trolling” other people for amusement value. Since I would much rather work as an attorney, fly an airplane, shoot guns, practice martial arts, or otherwise enjoy my life than troll people, I don’t get how anyone gets enjoyment from doing so. But, some people do, and I’m not going to waste time debating with them. I hope that those people are able to one day recognize that serious political issues are not a game, and that playing games with people’s rights and lives is pathetic.
But, just because I won’t spend my time debating this particular issues doesn’t mean that I hate you (I don’t). It doesn’t mean that I won’t debate other issues with you where the above reasons for me refusing this debate don’t apply.
What I do want is for you to take the time to develop a better understanding of the issues. Towards that end, the following links will give you my thoughts on some important issues related to what I refused to spend my time to debate with you. If you feel like reading, go right ahead. If not, have a good rest of your day.