The Alt-Right Playbook: Why Don't You Respond to Criticism?

[NRobbi]

"This does not help your cause"
-Guy who hates your cause

[austintayeshus]

the immature psychology behind it all boils down to "if you're explaining, you're losing" and i can't imagine any explanation ever satisfying someone with that mindset.

[luis]

The greatest bait a bad faith argument always starts with, is wanting to be corrected.
Never engage with one once you notice how blatantly wrong it is

[garthmarenghi]

"Why don't you respond to criticism? Why don't you engage with me??"

"I've known you for 5 seconds, none of which I've enjoyed. I'm not taking homework from you. "

[ChevronTango]

I'm sorry Ms Jackson! Ooh... I am four eels!

Never meant to make your daughter cry,
I am several fish and not a guy.

[AsiniusNaso]

I liked AOC's response to this: "Just like catcalling, I don't owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions."

[Coolio_Ash]

"why don't you respond to criticism" and the criticism is just racism

[castillogrande]

🎵Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, so I watch Innuendo Studios on the company time!🎵

[btcbuster]

its blatantly obvious you are not four eels in a trenchcoat, you have to be at least five eels in a trenchcoat

[basedeltazero]

Debate is a skill entirely seperate from 'being correct'. It can help, but you can absolutely be entirely in the right and get out-argued by someone who's just better at arguing... or more willing to be dishonest and act in bad faith. Which is before even getting into the fact responding eloquently to 'JUSTIFY YOUR EXISTENCE' for the ten thousandth time is simply exhausting.

Conservatives are, as a rule, very eager and reasonably skilled at arguing in bad faith. They've had an awful lot of practice, and just because you aren't good at arguing doesn't actually mean your position is unfounded. Don't engage on the enemy's terms, it will only hurt you.

[ImTopin]

This gives me strong "Never Play Defense" parallels.
Makes sense as to why the character from that video is here.

[rnut]

I've been seeing a lot of 'they keep saying Trump is undemocratic but they can never say what he did that's undemocratic' lately. It is so ridiculous that you just know that whatever you reply with, it won't be good enough to convince them.

[toast_busters]

This reminds me of a TikTok video I saw recently where a conservative, very calmly, speaks to the camera and demands that liberals watching his video ask themselves "is your hatred of Trump worth losing friends and family?"

It spurred this whole conversation in his comments from conservatives talking about how "they just want to be understood" at like their nicest, and then all the other vitriol at their worst. I find it insane that you can still be a Trump voter now almost 10 years into this who sits back and says, "I don't know what he's doing that's making people mad, I think they're just blinded by a mean thing he said once." Like complete blinders, unable to comprehend, willful ignorance. And the cognitive dissonance it must take to then say that everyone else is being hateful or out of line and that they should stop criticizing the right so that you can have your friends and family back? Wild. Absolutely wild to me.

[DeusExMacarena]

I'm a trans person whose social media pages routinely get stalked/brigaded by whichever rightoid group of the week finds my stuff and sends its followers after me. Speaking as someone who used to actually clap back, whether for debate reasons or petty reasons, it's still pretty much always better to just hit the block button. Many of them HAVE tried to hit me with the "what's the matter? You afraid to debate with differing opinions?" shtick, but they're never wanting a sincere good-faith discussion, they're wanting to be a bother. Same tactic that the likes of Ben Shapiro & Charlie Kirk use when they go on college campuses. Not to have actual debate, just to try to bait a reaction out of their targets so they have fodder for their weekly "conservative DESTROYS WOKE college kids with FACTS and LOGIC" slop

[Birdsoumds]

How dare YouTube withhold this from me for a whole 15 seconds

[shadylittlefox]

Pro tip: delete the comment so that they complain that you delete comments. Double engagement

[shamanftw]

My favorite thing about your trolls is how they basically demonstrate how correct you are about them and their predictable behaviors every time they show up here.

[holotori_senior_admin_teno]

I mean, honestly, just see the old "Never Play Defense" one; These people don't want to finish a discussion or accept a response. They want to continually attack and question and neg until you give up. No argument or answer will ever be enough unless that answer is an unequivocal "You are right and I was wrong". They don't WANT you to have an answer for their criticism... so they just won't let you.

[sor]

We had a saying in the mid 2000s that should make a comeback: Don't feed the trolls.

[BitBex]

In short, these people aren't interested in progressing the debate, they just want to trip you up. Responding to people validates their opinion to an extent too.