Discussing politics and other contentious sunjects online feels to me like it’s counterproductive these days and even though I try not to get suckered in, I often can’t help myself. Usually though I just end up feeling frustrated and sometimes angry at the other person either missing my points or refusing to accept them.
Thinking back to conversations I’ve had here and previously on Reddit, not only can I not remember an example of me “winning” the discussion and the other person changing their mind or conceding the point, I also cannot think of a time where my mind was changed either.
So have you ever begun a discussion online with someone with a different view point to yours and either you, or they, changed the others mind?
To me, the other side of the death penalty discussion is the Batman and Joker thought experiment, as described in detail by Jason Todd (Red Hood), but it’s perhaps a strawman because it’s taken to some extremes.
It’s easy to look at “The State” as an evil mammoth organization that can rarely apply fair sentencing - but that’s a bit doomer to the entire idea of a justice system. I do think standards of certainty should be much greater than what they are, but as with the Joker, there has to be a reasonable limit.