How Can you Debate a Fool?

I've found an interesting way to measure the spread of the truth. I Google "taxation is theft" and look at the number and quality of discussions.

There are two favorable trends. First, the total number of search results is increasing. Second, the quality is increasing. There are more people intelligently explaining "Taxation is theft!"

Previously, when someone mentioned "Taxation is theft!", there was almost always one reasonable person outnumbered by pro-State trolls. Now, I'm seeing forums where more than one person is arguing for "Taxation is theft!" On some forums, like mises.org, "Taxation is theft!" is now the majority opinion, but the subject still leads to flamewars.

I noticed another favorable trend. Some pro-State trolls are getting frustrated. They say "Why do these Libertarians keep saying 'Taxation is theft!'? Why is this stupid and discredited idea spreading?" If you've been pro-State brainwashed as an economist, politician, lawyer, journalist, or philosopher, you probably think "'Taxation is not theft!' is logically proven. Why are more and more people mentioning this point?! Why aren't my pro-State troll excuses working?!? How dare they question my authority!

This is a good sign. The die-hard Statists will be the last to learn. However, the average person might be convinced via repeated exposure. The first time you hear "Taxation is theft!", you might think it's a crazy radical fruitcake belief. The fifth time you hear it, from five different sources, you might start to think about it. The correct answer is "'Taxation is theft!' is obvious. It's the only sensible opinion for a logical civilized person to have." It takes awhile to reach that level of thinking. I'm probably way ahead of most people.

I'm convinced "Taxation is theft! Government is a scam!" I'm much more interested in "So what are you going to do about it?" I'm looking for advanced discussion of agorism, and I'm not going to find that debating pro-State trolls.

The arguments for "Taxation is theft!" are obvious and completely logical. Now that I've understood it for awhile, the pro-State troll counter-arguments are pathetic and obviously flawed. I already made a post on that and I'm not repeating that here. (I really should make a FAQ section, but Blogger doesn't support that well. I really should move from Blogger to WordPress on my own domain on a Linode. However, most of my time goes to my wage slave job now. At least my new phone lets me compose drafts on the subway!)

The debates with pro-State trolls all follow the same pattern. The pro-State troll says "I logically refuted 'Taxation is theft!'" Their argument is obviously nonsense, and someone explains why. The pro-State troll is not convinced.

Now, such an argument can only degenerate into name-calling. If one person is logical and the other is a fool, you won't make any progress. When I first started blogging, I tried such things to promote my blog. It was mostly a waste of time.

What can you do when you present a logical argument, the other person is spouting gibberish? The other person claims you are being illogical, but the other person is obviously being illogical. What can you do? The only answer is to stop wasting time on fools.

It's probably a more efficient use of my time to work on creating good content for my blog, rather than wasting time debating idiots on a forum where the moderators are idiots.

Debating idiots is frustrating. It's a lot of effort spent for little benefit. On a neutral forum, other people may be convinced. However, I can evaluate the effectiveness of promoting my blog by tracking Google Analytics referrals from that forum. At this point, "Other people cite FSK's blog" helps more than "FSK promotes his own blog." Therefore, I should focus my energy on writing good posts, rather than wasting time debating idiots.

I noticed another important idiot debating tactic. They will make a long list of reasons for why "Taxation is not theft!", while ignoring the points for "Taxation is theft!" Then, you are expected to refute every individual stupid point that the pro-State troll made.

This is a waste of time. If you try to refute every specific point that a fool makes, you won't convince them even if you do a great job and a great logical analysis. It's just a waste of time and energy.

There is another important point. If you spend most of your time debating idiots, then you become an idiot. Instead of raising the fool to your level, you wind up lowering yourself to the fool's level. It'd be nice to find a group of people with whom I could discuss advanced agorism. I haven't found that, except for the occasional intelligent comment or discussion.

I noticed another idiot tactic. I get comments that say "FSK is wrong, but I refuse to provide details." or "FSK is wrong, but I'm not wasting time responding in detail." Such comments are usually an indication that am I right and the subject is important. The more pro-State troll comments a post receives, the more important the subject. I give good reasons for my arguments. I'm losing interest in responding to every fool, and I don't have the time for Reader Mail posts like I used to.

On other people's forums, the volume of comments by fools usually drowns out intelligent discussion. On an upvoting/downvoting system like Reddit, an intelligent and correct comment might attract more downvotes than upvotes. For example, on the (pro-State) "anarchism" sub-Reddit, I noticed a lot of hostility when I wrote "Taxation is theft!" Naturally, I don't waste time there anymore.

It would be nice to find a forum that's free of pro-State trolls. Unless it's invitation-only or there's a fair moderation system, I don't see that happening.

There are two problems. First, the vast majority of people are brainwashed mindless zombies. They will get hostile and aggressive rather than admit they've been scammed by the State. They will jump through fake-logical hoops rather than see the truth.

Second, there are spies deliberately planted by the State. State thugs are so paranoid that they send disinformation agents anywhere that people gather. On the Internet, it's easy for a State spy to troll several forums, especially if it's his full-time job.

There also are indirect State spies. If someone works as a University professor, mainstream journalist, politician, lawyer, doctor, etc., then they will react with hostility to real free market ideas. Even if such a person is not explicitly employed directly by the State, they are very dependent on State violence for their livelihood and careers. People who profit via State violence will be very stubborn when confronted with the truth. I have noticed that doctors tend to be Statists, especially when you say "Government licensing requirements for doctors are harmful!" A doctor can't see the truth, because otherwise he'd notice his role in the scam.

Debating idiots is a waste of my time and energy. I'm better off creating good content on my own site, rather than rehashing freedom 101 with pro-State trolls who are resisting the truth.

Of course, you're free to waste time debating fools. I still try once in a while, and get frustrated. You may cite my blog, and if it's interesting I might respond on the other site. I check on who's citing my blog via Google Analytics and Google search.

I'm not interested in rehashing the basics anymore. I'm nearly completely convinced "All taxation is theft! Government is a scam and extortion racket. The State violence monopoly is immoral and unnecessary. All services currently provided by the State monopoly can be more efficiently performed by multiple competing vendors in a really free market."

It is frustrating, because many people see bits of the truth but resist others. For example, Stefan Molyneux is great at explaining "Taxation is theft!", but he completely fails to see "The 'chemical imbalance' theory of mental illness is a mistake/fraud." On the psychiatry/death industry issue, Stefan Molyneux is a hopeless statist, even though he claims to be openminded. He was unable to consider the points I made.

I'm trying to cut back on time wasted debating idiots. It's a lot of wasted energy. I'm really looking for more advanced material on agorism, especially practical agorism. I haven't seen any. Either there aren't many working agorists, or they're reluctant to publicly discuss their businesses. I'm interested in forming a group of freedom-minded people working together outside the State extortion racket. That would lead to greater efficiency than isolated pockets of tax resistance, where people act as individuals.