Hey, I've been battling in the forums a lot, and I can't seem to keep omnivores on the defensive. Example:
My argument
Meat should be banned for reasons x, y, z, a, b, and c. About 5,000 characters long.
Opponents' criticize my argument
That's completely unfeasible. How is suggesting banning of meat going to help anything? What about b12? Face it we will continue to eat meat.
My counter attack
Why do you think its okay to cause suffering to animals?
Opponents' response
Bacon tastes good. Other creatures are food, etc.
My response to the response
You think child abuse is immoral, yet why not animal abuse?
Opponent's response
These are completely different scenarios. Or, straw man argument.
Overall
Overall I've learned little from my opponents. They don't make any arguments, only criticize mine. Yet, one idea of my opponents' perseveres, it is okay to cause suffering to animal, but not humans. Though I still have no clue what the person's reasons for that belief is.
Replies
if you want to keep them on the defensive, you need to attack, but attack in a fashion that is sufficiently dumbed-down for your opponents. when you go x,y,z, ... 5000 characters, it is easy to hide. what i've done sometimes is work on each item in a separate post - sort of pace it for them. don't move on so they can get away, keep them right on topic.
though your response to the response is fine, you are asking for behavior consistency. however, you are specifically paralleling humans and animals which is why they try to escape the way they do (it's not a strawman though as explained earlier). there is technically no reason why thinking abuse of children is wrong should mean that abuse of animals is wrong. again you have to set it up properly, may be like this:
1. abuse of sentient beings is wrong
2. children and animals are sentient beings
3. abuse of children and animals is wrong
you can back that up with evidence such as protection laws for animals in various countries or even the fact that dogs will not be considered property in quebec:
http://justmansbestfriendforlife.com/proposed-quebec-law-says-dogs-...
(i was told the proposed law passed)
so i think you are gaining valuable experience and your research skills have been demonstrably excellent. i think all you need to do is to set-up your arguments better and then back them up with your research.
practice developing your cardiovascular system so you can chase after all these people who will be running away from you once they realize that opposing you is not safe! ;)
in friendship,
prad
Got any suggested websites? Most of my opponents ignore me after awhile on the websites I've found so far.
suggested websites for what?
you mean forums to raid?
i'm surprised they ignore you. the others who do discussions i've known never get ignored. admittedly, they wear out their opponents, but they don't get ignored. may be that's what you've done to them too, but don't realize it yet.
in friendship,
prad
Yes, that's what I mean, forums to raid. The opposition is responding less and less to my posts. I'm afraid I've worn almost all of them down.
it shouldn't surprise you that they are worn out.
a presence on huffingtonpost might be good.
you can always help out on the www.nutritionfacts.org too instead of battling the badguys. each video usually has people making comments usually. you may be able to provide useful input and increase your knowledge of nutrition through that.
in friendship,
prad
Getting bored with huffingtonpost. Made some comments, but having trouble finding the stories I want. Nobody seems to want to fight. Either get ignored or there is so many other commenters responding to different users that I can't even find my comment let alone the person responding to me.
One positive note about huffingtonpost is I am getting more positive feedback than negative, which is rare lol. Usually on other sites people are like "leave us alone!" Then, I persist for awhile until they ignore me, in others words I wear them out quickly.
I'm not ready to make a 5hr/week time commitment for nutritionfacts.org. Just for starters you need access to a scholarly peer reviewed database. Meaning I would have to go to a library or something.
Looking into huffingtonpost now. Think I'll comment for a bit there. Doubt I'll become a writer any time soon on that site.