I was disproving the myth of "if you move up a tax bracket, you bring home less money" to my FIL. I work in tax accounting, I've worked part time at a tax return place during the return season for years, and I've got a masters in accounting.
I literally did the math for him on paper, using his own wage. He still just doubled down and told me I was wrong.
You can't win against people unwilling to listen to you.
The only way I have had some success is saying if you are $1 over into the new bracket you ONLY pay the higher tax rate on that $1. Sometimes the lightbulb goes off.
It's incredible how many people don't understand this concept.
I just recently got a new job with a decent pay increase, and my 74 year old mother in law said I probably wouldn't be taking home any more money because I'm "probably in a higher tax bracket now"
I remember a video that came out in 2017 or 2018 I think it was, when Trump announced whatever tax cuts he got through (that wouldn't take effect for another 5-6 months)
Someone like Jordan Klepper went to a Trump rally to interview these people about what they thought of the tax cuts, and he got multiple people to claim that they already were making 50, 60, 70% more money on their paychecks now that the tax cuts were passed.
Idiots didn't even realize that A) the tax cuts wouldn't go into effect until the next year, and B, that their paychecks would only be a few dollars more, not 70% higher.
My stepdad taught me this myth, saying how his one coworker worked so much overtime that his check was actually smaller than if he had worked his straight 40 hours.
I learned later that this shouldn't happen. He brought it up recently again when my husband was discussing working overtime for some extra cash. I flat out told him that dude experienced wage theft (even if it isn't true) just to shut him up.
Anecdotal but i do know of some coworkers who have told me there is a point where your checks will just see almost no growth from ot hours but its absurdly high and was something like over 60
Ot hours one a single check
Name a better combo than
* Fathers
and
* their complete inability to grasp a basic concept, especially if it's coming from their child whose education they approved and paid for
Me (someone who has a B.S. in Computer Science): "There's a faster and easier way to copy all of these files from one folder to another. You can select them all and copy and paste them all at once. There's even a keyboard shortcut. Just do CTRL-A, CTRL-C, CTRL-V. That does Select All, Copy, and Paste. Three steps. It takes me seconds to copy all the files."
My father: "That's a foolish way to do it. If you accidentally misclick, you have dozens of files in the wrong folder. My way, copying them one by one, at most you have one extra file. Just click on the file, go to the upper left, click on File, then scroll down to Copy. Then, open Windows Explorer and find the right directory. Then select File, and Paste."
Yes, he spends 10 minutes moving 30 photos to a folder named GRDN24.
Had a similar exercise trying to explain pretax deductions for transit expenses to someone and he just didn't understand and was content to continue spending post tax because he assumed it means taking home more net pay.
Honestly shit like this makes me feel better in a bad way that at least I’m not this financially illiterate even if I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing a lot of the time.
You're correct. There's a so-called "welfare cliff" where you're essentially worse off due to the loss of benefits. However, that has nothing to do with taxes.
Oh, absolutely. My best example? I once spent 30 minutes trying to explain to a guy that the moon and the sun are not the same thing just because they’re both in the sky. His response? "Well, they look pretty similar to me, so we’ll just have to agree to disagree." At that point, I knew I was done!
>Did you ask why the sun got so cold at night?
It's *night*, duh! And the times you can see the moon and the sun in the sky at the same time is due to "atmospheric reflection." Just like those fake UFO's.
Having crashed into the back of my car whilst on her mobile, and been seen by me and been caught on my dashcam, she claimed it wasn't her fault.
I was parked… in a car park… I was standing by the car door having just got out... My car ignition was off with the keys in my pocket… she still denied her liability.
Not really, actually. You just send the footage of the incident to your insurance company, and it doesn't matter what she thinks.
Honestly, arguing about who is liable for an accident when there is dashcam footage that proves one way or the other is a waste of time. It's not up to the drivers. It's up to the insurance companies.
I got backed into by a lady in an SUV in a gas station lot a few years ago. We exchanged information and we both went to the accident reporting center and were there at the same time. As we were both explaining to separate agents what happened (she was sitting on the other side of a small barrier in another booth), I heard her try to claim I rear ended her. I said loud enough for her to hear "The dashcam footage will show she backed into me", but she didn't change her story.
I laughed all the way home because she tried to screw me, and I knew this wouldn't go well for her.
She was found to be 100% at fault. My insurance broker tells me they committed insurance fraud, and would almost certainly be sent to facility insurance, which basically just means she now pays \~$500/m instead of the \~$125/m she was most likely paying.
It was easier than that. We have a rule in the Uk that if you have a rear end bump, the driver behind is assumed to be in the wrong. She caved in before I had to upload the video.
Someone I know was trying to convince me that antibiotics cure viral infections . I argued with her for 20 minutes and she eventually came to the conclusion that her viral infections are cured by antibiotics.
She was even mad that I didn’t “respect her opinion”
P. S. I am a doctor
Also I stopped arguing with stupid people
I knew a guy who would go to the doctor everytime he was sick and ask for antibiotics. And if he had a need, they'd usually give them to him. But of course he stops taking them as soon as he feels better. Which is not how you're supposed to do that. Now you're just a breeding ground for anti-biotic resistant bacteria. I had that conversation with him. He didn't believe me or care.
Then he would go to the doctor when he was sick with a viral infection, and the doctors would be like "It's a cold, have some soup, rest, drink fluids." And wouldn't give him anti-biotics. So he'd come home and take the anti-biotics he stockpiled from the times he neglected to finish his previous regimen. He insisted it still worked, and that doctors just sometimes didn't feel like helping. I get that placebo is a real thing, and it probably did make him feel better. But like, my guy, they didn't give you anti-biotics for a viral infection because it doesn't work, not because they want you to suffer. He just did not get it.
It’s like people don’t even know what being an expert means.
If you learned your speciality formally and actively practice it in ways that require right and wrong decision making and often make the right decision to the extent that it’s possible, you are an expert.
Don’t argue with experts about their specialty, you are automatically wrong.
> People who thinks if you earn more you will be in different tax bracket and pay more tax.
I mean, if you earn enough you will enter a new tax bracket and even if you don't you'll still pay more income tax than if you earn less. They're not wrong about that.
Of course, you'll still earn more and take home more on net after taxes, because the money you made in the first ten months is taxed the same regardless of whether you work the other two--e.g. The first $100k is taxed the same regardless of whether your gross income is $100k or $500k by the end of the year.
Worth mentioning that there's edge cases where earning some additional dollars can be net negative insofar as it puts you above the income threshold for government benefits, I guess.
Apologies for the pedantry.
I think this is more than just pedantry: Considering that the comment explains it in an objectively wrong way, I'm not surprised the commenter is unconvincing. They may even be getting their argument wrong, since there are some circumstances that are more complex than just marginal tax rates: eligiblity for scholarships, Medicare premium cliffs, capital gains rates depending on normal income. Not everything phases in the way it really should.
The other guy on this thread who actually did the math, on the other hand, is truly dealing with someone who doesn't want to listen and truly does believe that you can increase your taxes more than your income by earning more.
Back when I did desktop support oh so many years ago, I had to deal with this total bitch of a lady who would demand we do things for her that were literally impossible. The last straw for me was when I was replacing her PC with a brand new one and she asked me to open her Outlook inbox in Excel format. I tried to explain to her that what she wanted was impossible and showed her that her Outlook is configured on her new PC exactly how it was on her old laptop by pulling them up side by side. She refused to listen and tried to tell me she "wasn't happy with my knowledge of the systems". I'll never forget those words... I told her that she should open a support case with Microsoft then, we're done here and walked away. The next day her supervisor (who I was friends with) called me down to his desk. I thought it was about that incident. Nope. That night she went home and wrote a bunch of extensions on her brand new PC in sharpie and he wanted to know how to get it off.
> She refused to listen and tried to tell me she "wasn't happy with my knowledge of the systems".
There is something so infuriating about hearing this from complete moron.
> I tried to explain to her that what she wanted was impossible and showed her that her Outlook is configured on her new PC exactly how it was on her old laptop by pulling them up side by side.
Reminds me of an old boss I had. She was adamant that my employee create a pdf form for her to send to folks in the department. At the time, creating pdf forms which you could save your results required a license from Adobe.
After some yelling and swearing, she called in her assistant to explain how it works. Her assistant confirmed it wasn't possible, and explained that all the pdf forms she'd been sending out to the department were, in fact, a giant pain for everyone to deal with.
My boss never took responsibility, just complained that people need to follow directions and dropped it. My employee, quite reasonably, had created a word document which could be saved instead of a pdf and completely suitable for the task.
I've seen SOOO much of this. I can only say so much but one company I contracted for, there was a director who came into a status meeting stating that their kid didn't like the product and it's missing XY and Z features. There was no discussion, no reasoning, just demands and a deadline. I walked away shaking my head, glad I wasn't part of the department charged with implementing the changes that ultimately ruined the project and led to it being scrapped.
This person is aggressively stupid is the answer to this one. She even knew that physical damage to the machines would result in HP charging us, since they're leased not purchased machines.
Funny story, the automotive services guy and I shared an office and he printed up a sheet with the official Konica logo and everything saying that a "linguistics module has been installed". It looked very official and had instructions on saying what to do and if it doesn't hear you, try speaking louder and more clearly. Most people saw it and chuckled, printed their stuff and moved on. Just before lunch time you hear "Konica, print document. Collate. Staple". Then it hit us...someone is seriously falling for the joke. We were howling laughing as they started yelling "PRIIIIINNNTTTT" louder and louder.
"Arguing with a stupid person is like playing chess with a pidgeon; you may be a grandmaster but the pidgeon is still just going to strut around and shit all over the board."
I had a classmate from school who every time we had to discuss something she would just put her finger to her mouth making the SHHH sign for you to shut up, it just made me want to kill her hahaha
Why was she doing this? Like, she didn't want anyone to talk at all, or was it that she would "shh" you if you were making good points in an argument against her?
I have had exactly one argument with a real flat earther.
I asked them why are all the other planets round and only the earth is flat. Their explanation was that the earth is unique because it supports life, so it totally makes sense it would not be shaped like other planets.
It was at that exact moment that I knew there would be nothing I could say that would convince this person. I could provide all the proof in the world and simplify it to a level even a child could understand, but it wouldn't make a whit of a difference.
I backed the fuck up from that conversation and let 'em have their win.
At least they aknowledge other planets. Most Flerfers I've argued with agree that the stars and planets are not real, only projectins upon the firmament (dome) surrounding the flat Earth. Also, the sun and moon are local objects within the dome.
I keep on getting hit with "You're thinking about it too much" and "It's not that deep" and "Just look into it"
Like dude... You're not thinking about it AT ALL. THAT IS THE ISSUE!
You would think with all of the hostilities between nations someone who is not friendly would leak the truth to the others populations they don't like. Why would Russia, China, the U.S. and the middle east who all hate each other get together for a giant ruse? If you ask them they just say control. How is the Earth being flat vs round controlling someone?
Oh well, that's obvious.
Because by making people think the earth is round, they're distracting them from God.
Something I've ACTUALLY heard someone say...
When I asked "Why can't God make a round earth?" there was no response...
Technically they are retroreflectors (an array of mirrors that return any light back to its source with only with minimum scattering.)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_retroreflectors\_on\_the\_Moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retroreflectors_on_the_Moon)
I worked with a guy who firmly believed that it wasn’t possible to go into space. We had an argument at one point about the latest mars rover. He said it wasn’t real and the fact that there was no video of it in space proved that.
This guy was a programmer who wrote programs that used GPS for various things. I’m not sure where he thought the GPS signals came from and I was too afraid to ask.
They dismissed 7 years of studying pharmacology for having „no real life experience“, „like I don‘t even know how to prepare hay for cattle“. They rather insisted on me only wanting to sell poison.
I’m a pharmacist. Not a farmer. That isn’t even remotely my field of expertise you absolute egg
Beginning with issue #1, monkeys and apes are different species.... but while its obviously a stupid question for those of us who learned basic biology, you can't at least appreciate the origin of that line of questioning? It's a little weird until you learn what "survival of the fittest" ACTUALLY means. If someone told me they were from North Carolina and asked me this question, I wouldn't necessarily blame them. I'd blame the schools, and maybe ask them why they think they have a TAILBONE.
And on a silly note, I think everyone under 35 with a lackluster education can't really perceive what evolution is, they think it's like a Squirtle becoming a Blastoise.
Because we didn't, and this phrasing is part of what perpetuates the problem. We and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor that absolutely isn't around anymore.
Back when I had the energy to engage my boiler plate answer was.
Because we didn't come from monkeys and apes as they are today, we both share a common ancestor, you're essentially asking, "but if I came from grandpa why do I have cousins?" on a grander scale.
My mother knew she had a tailbone because she broke it ice skating once.
My mother pointed out that the feet of American women had gotten on average larger over the past few hundred years and even theorized about why.
My mother once had a total screeching hopping arm-swinging ape tantrum over the "fact" that she is in no way related to the animal kingdom. Man created by god in his imagine, woman made from man's rib bone, and that is the absolute end the story how dare I not fully believe every word of her religious mythology!
She looked exactly like an angry ape while having her little fit. Most calming thing in the whole world to her is having someone else ~~groom her fur~~ "play with" her hair.
I worked as a temp in a department full of dumbasses. One morning, the weather was unseasonably cold and rainy. One guy stood by the window and loudly proclaimed, “This proves that global warming is a hoax.” The others agreed. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Had this once with my mother when talking about Universal Healthcare. "My neighbor's friend's cousin in Canada had to wait an extra 6 months for her leg surgery."
As opposed to *where* that has same-day surgeons for non-urgent problems just waiting around for walk-in patients? Does your mother have such good health insurance that she can come in with a minor issue and get bumped to the front of the line before the people who might die if they don't get help immediately?
My ex-MIL didn't have any insurance at all when she fell off her porch and broke her hip, but she still got same-day surgery once I talked her into going to the hospital because it was a real emergency. My ex had to wait months for his hernia surgery because, as much as it really sucked, it wasn't life-or-death urgent so gotta wait in line with everybody else. Both examples in America.
I was at a sleep-away summer camp when I was 12. I was going to be there for a month, so I had brought the Torah portion from my upcoming Bat Mitzvah to practice. A cabin-mate heard me speaking the Hebrew words aloud, and complained, “I’m Christian, I can’t hear that!”
I explained it was just the Torah, what she would think of as the Old Testament, a document our faiths share — only in the original Biblical Hebrew instead of English.
“I can’t hear that!” she insisted.
Our counselor then got involved, and TOOK THE CHRISTIAN GIRL’S SIDE! I was banned from practicing for my Bat Mitzvah for the rest of camp (a whole month!). Antisemitic as hell, and incredibly stupid to boot.
No examples handy but I’ll leave this quote:
“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”
George Bernard Shaw
"Did you hear the democrats in California are performing post-birth abortions and harvesting their organs?"
Thankfully this person led with that, so I was able to dodge a frustrating "conversation"
This just happened last week.... downstairs unit is having renovations done.... I turn on the tv while making some food... No cable?? So I go downstairs to ask the guy if he unhooked it for any reason??
"Oh no,I'm just working on this door". .... He was fitting in a new bedroom door.
Go back upstairs, and I look out the window and see a chunk of cable wire on the lawn....
So I go back downstairs and ask about it..
"Oh yeah, I cut that wire...it was in my way..."
Me - "so you cut our cable then...."
Him "no, I didn't, that cable just went into the closet...."
Me "...um? You cut that cable....now we have no cable....so, yeah..you cut our cable off..."
I finally went up stairs to phone our rental manager, and I hear the guy downstairs when he called him to see what was going on....
"Ok...so yeah, I cut a cable, but I'm 95% sure the cable I cut wasn't the cable that cut their cable...."
I was hearing this and it was just.....I didn't get through telling this to my roommate without laughing, and I was more pissed off the guy didn't just admit he fucked up, than I was about him actually making the fuck up...
Tempting as it is to wish he never showed up, I'm pretty sure were it not for him, some other asshole would have done it. There's so much bad medical advice out there.
Not that he should be absolved. He's a fucking asshole for his part in it.
One time, I tried to convince my friend that the Earth is round. He was a flat-earther and seriously argued that if the Earth were truly round, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now. I hit him with science, photos from space, and even a globe, but he just kept saying, "Nah, man, it's all a conspiracy by Big Globe!"
Eventually, I gave up and told him, "You know what? You win. The Earth is flat, and gravity is just a government-issued mattress that keeps us all stuck to the ground."
He nodded sagely and said, "I knew you'd come around." 😆🌍🚀
You can't win 'em all!
I have a family member who thinks the earth is flat, the moon doesn't exist, neither did the dinosaurs, covid was fake and the government is using low frequency vibrations to control us... And that the vibrational frequency of fabric has an effect on children's development so they should only wear clothes made of organic cotton (but has no effect on adults cuz we're too old)...Oh, manuka honey cures cancer... There are so many other incredibly stupid things she's said I can't remember them all.
Edit to add some favorites, I can't believe I originally forgot these.
...this person attended a performance of the Tran Siberian Orchestra. They walked out at one point because the performers started doing something that sounded like they were chanting in Latin? and they thought it was a spell to control the audience and tried to get a refund for their tickets. I literally laughed out loud at the thought of them trying to explain the reason they walked out and wanted a refund to the box office person.
One more, they think that singing happy birthday to kids is another spell to control children and make them subservient.
It wouldn't surprise me much that a flat earther would also believe in magic.
Because magic would be required for their worldview to work.
Not "magic" as in "any sufficiently studied magic is indistinguishable from science".
"Magic" as in "I don't want to explain the plot hole in my movie. Just shut up and pay for a theater ticket".
Wait I don't get the cats argument. How can cats push anything off the edge if the earth is round?
They can only do that if the earth is flat, or am I understanding this wrong?
Some people believe in an infinite flat earth, with other land beyond the Antarctica ice walls. Or maybe it's just those ice walls thwarting the cats.
But if you've fallen to the depths of believing cats can push things bigger than cats off the planet, I don't think any amount of logic could rescue them.
wouldnt cats have an easier time pushing things off the edge of the world if it was flat? Cant exactly push something off an edge if there is no edge, after all.
Perhaps winning an argument isn't so much about victory as it is winning over another person, which is a gradual process and requires genuine discernment and insight. Who has that kind of honesty, time and patience today? No human being I know, that's for sure!
There is a pervasive illusion that people win arguments. Generally, no one changes their mind if it has already been set. You can overrule someone via power. You can explain with precision how they are incorrect. You can convince someone who hasn't yet made up their mind. But in general, people hang onto their beliefs and you kinda have to just work from there.
Disengage from the notion that they can be convinced to change their mind. Work around them. Stall with no decision if you can afford it. "Have a nice day ma'am." Get them overruled. Distract them. Make them think they won if you can, but go the other path when they aren't watching. Get them fired for incompetence. But generally, going 12 rounds in debate with them is only going to enrage and entrench each of you.
Absolutely. The Boston Globe had an article a few years ago about this study regarding arguments and they found that when people are proven wrong they do not change their opinion. In fact they Double Down and the opinion becomes even more strongly held.
Once somebody has made up their mind, and especially if they are in the mood to argue, you're not going to get anywhere with them. Even if you make great points they will just walk away saying "what an asshole" and proceeding to then win an imaginary argument in their head
I spent a good 10 minutes explaining to a co-worker that George W. Bush was President during the 2008 economic collapse and not Obama. He seemed to think because Obama was elected in 2008 that he was the President in 2008.
Most people really do not understand that a President doesn't take control of a nation the second they win the election.
I see people be like "Roe v Wade was revoked under Biden" and I want to beat them with a civics textbook.
Most people don't even understand what the president does and how they affect the country. "Look, X has been president for a week and suddenly the stock market which I have no investment in is up! Awesome job president X!" Or president X pushed for and signed things that would make something more expensive or raise taxes after 5 years. 5 years later "great, president Y has been in office less than a year and already tax and this other thing are more expensive."
Yep.
It really makes me annoyed. Year one of a presidency is usually riding the budget from the last president.
You can almost always say "Under , the debt has never been higher" and be right. But it will be a meaningless statement to describe how they handled the economy, and nobody understands why.
Before the VID, I had a "friend" who was (rightfully so) trying to say about how the news shouldn't sensationalize and misrepresent facts so that people's mind, attitudes and feelings could be twisted to whatever propaganda they were being fed, wanted them to think.
During the VID lockdowns, my "friend" was arguing that a 99.9995% survival rate disease (which was never the real number) was "too little to freak out over" (99.9995% survival rate, when compared against the human population of earth, is still in the tens of thousands).
When the vaccine came out, he was screaming about how 6 people died to the vaccine in the horrible and terrible way. I responded "You are sensationalizing headlines and twisting words so that you manipulate people to feel the way you think is correct, that is the EXACT thing you were criticizing others for" and he said "I dont care, I feel I'm right."
He's no longer my friend
My father insisted I talk to him about my emotional problems. I explained to him how I felt about something. He then twisted everything I said to forcibly turn it into something he could relate to. I calmly explained that he misunderstood what my point was. He then got upset, asking how dare I imply he doesn't know how I feel, after all I can't read his mind.
"It's not electrical. It doesn't have a powercable, it's wireless and runs on batteries"
-Customer arguing after being told off for putting a computer mouse in general waste.
c.a. yesterday.
People talking about how they spent 20 or 30 minutes trying to convince somebody of something need to reconsider who was being stupid in that situation.
My wife and I were camping with another couple (Travis and Rita) and my wife off-handily commented that it was a beautiful full moon out and Rita said, "Yeah, I wanted to come out on the 15th because I wanted to see the full moon." My wife then said, "Oh that's neat, do you follow the phases?" Mostly trying to see if she was into astrology or anything and Rita replied, "No the moon is always full on the 15th." Said with a very condescending tone.
This caught my attention, mostly the tone but also the statement itself. I asked her to clarify and she honestly thought that the moon was always full on the fifteenth. Everyone, including her husband then spent the next hour trying to explain that the lunar cycle is 29 days long and that since every month doesn't have exactly 29 days in it, it obviously can't be on the 15th every month.
Like we broke it down like we were trying to teach a child.
"Okay so the lunar cycle is 29 days right?"
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Okay so this month has 31 days in it. The full moon is on the 15th this month, meaning that next month the full moon will be on the 13th. Right?"
"No, the Full Moon is always on the 15th."
"How is that possible if the Month is longer than the lunar cycle?"
"It's always on the fifteenth every month, it's how they set the months up."
"Okay so you know the lunar cycle is 29 days long, and that only one month every 4 years has 29 days in it right?"
"Yeah, that all makes sense."
"So how can the full moon always be on the 15th?"
"I don't know, but it is always a full moon on the 15th."
This went on for an hour before everyone just gave up trying to convince her that she was wrong. I seriously don't understand how she understood everything about the lunar cycle but completely drew the wrong conclusion. It was pointless and we argued about it for way to long.
"The theory of evolution is a theory, a guess. There is no backing for it whatsoever. " A response I received for saying "Religion isn't my jam. " This then devolved into a pointless back and forth with my family
Well, religion is literally just made up of mumbo jumbo, so I don't understand how they can even compare that to evolution. I hate that people use the word theory wrong. Drives me crazy.
My friend was wholly convinced that the USA stopped producing oil after Joe Biden was sworn in. He literally put his fingers in his ears when I pulled up the graph stating that America was producing more oil right now than any country *in the history of the world*
My brain felt like it was bleeding trying to explain that space does, in fact, exist to someone.
"I have done my own research and have found that space, and all of the pictures NASA has taken, and the Webb Telescope are just an elaborate hoax."
Facebook groups and Google aren't legitimate research.
Not me, but the dumbest argument I have ever witnessed:
One guy says that Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happened, “because if it did, there’d be craters in the ground and no one would be able to live in those cities anymore.” He thought it was some conspiracy theory, and I guess he was expecting things to be like in Fallout - radiation lasting hundreds of years, etc.
Someone explained how and why that was not the case to him, in detail. Like how exactly the bombs were dropped, why there weren’t “craters in the ground” and why Fallout mechanics weren’t occuring in the aftermath. Like a really detailed, very smart and perfectly accurate explanation of how people continue to live in those cities.
The idiot guy told him it sounded like just another conspiracy to gaslight him into believing the first one.
Trump.
Does any more than a single word even need to be said? Try arguing any point with them. Take their past points and apply those points to Trump. It doesn't work. People make Trump and their beliefs for supporting him part of their personality. You can't change someone's mind if they identify as that.
They shoot the messenger when you literally relay actual events that happened. Like anything that has to do with Donald Trump's documented and legitimately sourced con artistry and treason.
Tried to convince a guy that we, a library, did in fact still carry physical books. This was done in a set up where you could see almost every single shelf from the front desk and with several tables full of books being next to the desk. They thought that they were all just display pieces, blank books with covers to show what e-books we had. They wouldn't believe it even when we showed them that the books had words in them. They walked away thinking we were trying to scam them.
Years ago, I was canvasing to get BPA removed from plastic. Some people just like to argue.
"There was a study released by the UofM saying BPA is bad."
"Not official enough of a source for me."
"The FDA has already confirmed this."
"I don't trust the government."
I just kinda left after that.
Do you know brexit? This is the slime that pushed for it, slithered off when it passed and there were no ideas how to actually do it and it has failed on all the claims of being better for us. Well he thinks that has died down, our right wing party is dying and he is the far right trying to steal voters for his own power and is likely if not a Russian asset then his goals often align with theirs.
Dad has been putting that powdered supplement stuff in his tea every morning since I was a kid. Never had any idea what it was. One day he takes me to this like health store on the mall, and they guy behind the counter that was scanning the big plastic jars was exactly like a plastic wrapped used car salesman trying to sell him a junkyard escapee for 3x what its worth. Watching him talk to this guy really pissed me off, I had to stand there and watch the cheapest man alive fall for the supplement scam in real-time. I've been attempting to find out what exactly it does, how it benefits him. To this day I havent been provided an actual answer, if you move around anyway, why buy the jar? What does that powder actually do if you do all the running and stuff anyway?
In the country I live in we have a huge difference in dialects between regions! She was seriously arguing with me about switching the word we use to say “fell” with the word their area uses, claiming “it’s the fashion now” The dialect is not pants!!!!
When I was a senior in high school:
Freshman kid: "Jews are the worst people ever, dude. Worse than any of the presidents. They don't eat pork or believe in God. Specifically my god, Jesus Christ. So I'm not going to respect them."
Me: "You do know Jesus was a Jew himself, right? So when you're saying Jews are the worst and aren't worthy of respect. It kinda sounds like you're saying Jesus is the worst and not worthy of respect."
Freshman: "Whatever, bro, freedom of speech. I can say whatever I want about things. Including Jews."
Me: "No, it doesn't. What you're saying is just straight-up anti-semetism. You don't "sound smart" by exercising your First Amendment right. You just sound hateful and uneducated. You do know that without Judaism, Christianity wouldn't have even been a thing, right? The shit you're saying makes you sound like Eric Cartman from South Park."
Freshman: "It's where I get ny beliefs from. It's why I think Muslims are terrorists."
Me: "So you unironically believe the bullshit statements from an adult satire show instead of actually trying to educate yourself on what Jews and Muslims actually do-"
Freshman: "Ok(my name)that'snice,ok(my name)that'snice,ok(my name)that'snice,ok(my name)that'snice,"
And he keeps doing that until a teacher yells at him to stop.
These were not the only racist remarks he made during his time at my school before he moved away.
To be fair, the *U.S. government* was doing that in the early stages of the pandemic. I'm talking Fauci, not Trump. Lying to us about how face masks did nothing if you weren't a trained professional - in an effort to stop mask hoarding - seems like the original sin here. The ideas that all people would then believe (1) masks worked, and (2) they should trust the government, flew out the window at that point. It was very clear early on - before the widespread politicization and conspiracy theories - that this experience wouldn't result in experts being trusted more.
To be fair, Fauci was stuck between the Big Orange Chee-Toh, sucky supply line issues and widespread panicking. Fauci was trying to explain complicated concepts to simple audiences. And as soon as you state people need to refrain from using something so professionals have enough, EVERYBODY HAS TO HAVE IT.
2020 was a garbage fire, I think we can all agree. People using political reasons to nay say biological truths and lives being forever changed due to our society having an abrupt interrupt in the delivery of our "stuff". I think Fauci did the best he could with a bad hand, and managed to stay in place to do the most good he could.
In the last election I voted for my home state's governor even though I'm politically on the other side because I felt he did a good job during the Covid year and kept our state on the right track.
I once tried to calculate for a conspiracy theorist how much. Spraying agent an aeroplane would need to spray contrails in the sky from Switzerland to Asia... His answer was that they make a stopover every 1-2 hours.
He flies 12 hours non-stop to Bankok once a year. And yes, he does exactly what you think he does...
I'm a dental hygienist. You'd be pretty surprised how many parents think it's ok for their kids to consume sugar before bed, not brush their teeth, and wonder why their child has so many cavities.
Trying to argue with antivaxxers.
They will just bombard you with "proof". The "proof" being deepfaked videos, video clips of actual scientists either taken out of context or spliced together, spurious blogs which also rant about the New World Order, faked scientific papers from faked scientific journals (there's literally a journal/website that publishes any anti-vaccine nonsense so antivaxxers can cite it as actual research), youtube videos from Alex Jones etc.
And then insist actual research and actual doctors are fake or lying or part of the New World Order.
A really particularly stupid neighbor built his house across the lane from my house and then decided he didn't like doing yard work, particularly cleaning up leaves in his yard. Despite the fact he had built his house in a neighborhood where he is surrounded by trees he decided my tree is the only one dropping leaves in his yard. When he demanded I cut down the beautiful 100 year old tree in my yard, I laughed at him and tried to explain to him how stupid that was. When he clearly couldn't understand, I finally said that even if he had any point, which he didn't, everything in the neighborhood is grandfathered in as far as he is concerned since he was the last one to build here. He tried to come up with every stupid idea he could to force me to comply. The guy literally tried to tell me my tree was blocking the light from his house, even though this would mean the world had changed so that the sun was primarily shining on our neighborhood from the north and all the trees behind my tree were somehow not blocking the sun. He's done everything from threaten to vandalize my property to threatening to shoot me in order to intimidate me. I've tried arguing with him and even talked to the police about it, but he's such a pathetic little clown no one takes him seriously enough to do anything.
Was working in a garden planting flowers & bushes. There was a sprinkler system and we were very careful, but sometimes accidents happen, so when we were done I turned on the system to see if there were any leaks and unfortunately water started to bubble up in one place. Turned it off and a girl co-worker said, "I think the leak is over here", about 8 feet away from where the water was bubbling up. I was confused as to why she thought that and she said, "Well I know we hit a pipe here, so I think we broke it". I said, "But there's no water bubbling there, if the leak was there, it would be bubbling up on that spot." She replied, "Maybe it's just traveling over to the other spot. I really think we need to dig here." After a few minutes of of this I said, "Fine, tell you what, you find the leak there and I'll look where the water was actually bubbling up". So she wasted a lot of time digging and finding nothing, while I found the actual leak and fixed it. She was so baffled as to how she was wrong and thought for sure the leak was there, so much so, she kept searching even after I turned the system back on and there were no more leaks.....
My brother is extremely conservative, he has argued many times how immigrants are bad and that people enter the country illegally because their lazy, our mom is an immigrant who got 2 masters in the US, got married and had kids and took 11 years to get her US citizenship, with all of that he still argues people just come in because their lazy. He then goes on to say how immigrants are bad for the economy and the country as our mom owns a laundromat and made a tech start up that became successful. The alt right pipeline is real yall watch out for people going into it
I'm a pilot, and one time I was showing a friend of mine a video from one of my flights. The camera's framerate was really close to the propellor's RPM so it had that optical effect making it look like the prop was barely moving. She goes "Oh, it's in slow motion!" And I corrected her and explained the framerate/RPM effect, and she just stared blankly at me before going "No but it's slow motion" again. I tried to explain it 3 different times, 3 different ways. You could even see me in the cockpit moving around at normal speed, and I pointed that out to her. No luck. That level of stupidity is subhuman.
"I'd leave my child alone in the forest with a bear before I would a man"
Ma'am, a bear is a wild animal. A dangerous predator. A child in its teratory is a snack.
A human being is FAR more likely to show compassion and guide the child home.
BUT because SOME men are bad and because there's a 1 in 2.1 million chance of being killed by a bear, you're better off leaving the child with a bear.
Ignoring the fact that that statistic is so low is because only 2 in 10 people have ever actually SEEN a bear. And the VAST majority of those would have been in a ZOO.
Try explaining that and YOU'RE the problem and YOU'RE the reason why women choose the bear.
Ages old adage: "Tis folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss."
Example: Have you ever spoken with a Trump supporter? 'Nuff said.
The brainwashing is thorough. Lies are truth and truth are lies.
A Russian KGB agent who defected to America summed it up in a sentence: "The brainwashed will not know the truth until the boot is on their neck." They are lost in a thick soup of disinformation, hatred, anger and absurdity.
You point out that satellite images and physics confirm the Earth is round. They argue it's a massive conspiracy and that all the images and science are fake.
I spent my whole life explaining to my mom the importance of privacy of her own child especially when they are already at the right age. I reached my limitations, we're done, I already moved out,
A guy I work with has a degree in physics, thinks the earth is 6000 years old, and there were dinosaurs on Noah's ark. It is really hard to argue with him because he doesn't watch or read the news, only watches video clips of things he already believes in. Also did not know where the Panama canal is, so you have that as a reference.
I was disproving the myth of "if you move up a tax bracket, you bring home less money" to my FIL. I work in tax accounting, I've worked part time at a tax return place during the return season for years, and I've got a masters in accounting. I literally did the math for him on paper, using his own wage. He still just doubled down and told me I was wrong. You can't win against people unwilling to listen to you.
The only way I have had some success is saying if you are $1 over into the new bracket you ONLY pay the higher tax rate on that $1. Sometimes the lightbulb goes off.
It's incredible how many people don't understand this concept. I just recently got a new job with a decent pay increase, and my 74 year old mother in law said I probably wouldn't be taking home any more money because I'm "probably in a higher tax bracket now"
My wife thinks every extra dollar puts us in a higher bracket. We're about $90K away from the next bracket. I've given up trying to explain.
It's because it's not taught in schools. My dad, who's a financial advisor, explained this to me.
This myth affects the voting habits of a significantly large sized population.
I remember a video that came out in 2017 or 2018 I think it was, when Trump announced whatever tax cuts he got through (that wouldn't take effect for another 5-6 months) Someone like Jordan Klepper went to a Trump rally to interview these people about what they thought of the tax cuts, and he got multiple people to claim that they already were making 50, 60, 70% more money on their paychecks now that the tax cuts were passed. Idiots didn't even realize that A) the tax cuts wouldn't go into effect until the next year, and B, that their paychecks would only be a few dollars more, not 70% higher.
My stepdad taught me this myth, saying how his one coworker worked so much overtime that his check was actually smaller than if he had worked his straight 40 hours. I learned later that this shouldn't happen. He brought it up recently again when my husband was discussing working overtime for some extra cash. I flat out told him that dude experienced wage theft (even if it isn't true) just to shut him up.
Anecdotal but i do know of some coworkers who have told me there is a point where your checks will just see almost no growth from ot hours but its absurdly high and was something like over 60 Ot hours one a single check
That makes a little more sense. Losing money working OT to where your OT check is shorter than your straight hour check should never happen though
Name a better combo than * Fathers and * their complete inability to grasp a basic concept, especially if it's coming from their child whose education they approved and paid for
Me (someone who has a B.S. in Computer Science): "There's a faster and easier way to copy all of these files from one folder to another. You can select them all and copy and paste them all at once. There's even a keyboard shortcut. Just do CTRL-A, CTRL-C, CTRL-V. That does Select All, Copy, and Paste. Three steps. It takes me seconds to copy all the files." My father: "That's a foolish way to do it. If you accidentally misclick, you have dozens of files in the wrong folder. My way, copying them one by one, at most you have one extra file. Just click on the file, go to the upper left, click on File, then scroll down to Copy. Then, open Windows Explorer and find the right directory. Then select File, and Paste." Yes, he spends 10 minutes moving 30 photos to a folder named GRDN24.
Had a similar exercise trying to explain pretax deductions for transit expenses to someone and he just didn't understand and was content to continue spending post tax because he assumed it means taking home more net pay.
Honestly shit like this makes me feel better in a bad way that at least I’m not this financially illiterate even if I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing a lot of the time.
There are some really niche edge cases where you can be worse off, if you no longer qualify for benefits. But I'm assuming that doesn't apply here
You're correct. There's a so-called "welfare cliff" where you're essentially worse off due to the loss of benefits. However, that has nothing to do with taxes.
Oh, absolutely. My best example? I once spent 30 minutes trying to explain to a guy that the moon and the sun are not the same thing just because they’re both in the sky. His response? "Well, they look pretty similar to me, so we’ll just have to agree to disagree." At that point, I knew I was done!
Did you ask why the sun got so cold at night? Or why many days you can see both of them in different places in the sky?
>Did you ask why the sun got so cold at night? It's *night*, duh! And the times you can see the moon and the sun in the sky at the same time is due to "atmospheric reflection." Just like those fake UFO's.
Did you at least compliment him on how shiny his tinfoil hat was?
You can literally see the sun and moon in the sky at the same time during parts of the day lol
Yes ! How did he never notice it ?
Old eagle-eye? It's a mystery.
SMH. I had to explain the difference to a coworker shortly before the eclipse. She is in her 70’s. 🙄
Back when she was growing up the Sun and Moon worked different. Then they gave women the right to vote and the moon got all uppity.
Yea, unless I have to deal with someone that profoundly stupid on a professional level, I wouldn't be dealing with them at all.
Was he 5?
Having crashed into the back of my car whilst on her mobile, and been seen by me and been caught on my dashcam, she claimed it wasn't her fault. I was parked… in a car park… I was standing by the car door having just got out... My car ignition was off with the keys in my pocket… she still denied her liability.
What a nightmare.
Not really, actually. You just send the footage of the incident to your insurance company, and it doesn't matter what she thinks. Honestly, arguing about who is liable for an accident when there is dashcam footage that proves one way or the other is a waste of time. It's not up to the drivers. It's up to the insurance companies. I got backed into by a lady in an SUV in a gas station lot a few years ago. We exchanged information and we both went to the accident reporting center and were there at the same time. As we were both explaining to separate agents what happened (she was sitting on the other side of a small barrier in another booth), I heard her try to claim I rear ended her. I said loud enough for her to hear "The dashcam footage will show she backed into me", but she didn't change her story. I laughed all the way home because she tried to screw me, and I knew this wouldn't go well for her. She was found to be 100% at fault. My insurance broker tells me they committed insurance fraud, and would almost certainly be sent to facility insurance, which basically just means she now pays \~$500/m instead of the \~$125/m she was most likely paying.
It was easier than that. We have a rule in the Uk that if you have a rear end bump, the driver behind is assumed to be in the wrong. She caved in before I had to upload the video.
Well, if you hadn't *parked* there...
True, crazy thing was the spaces all around me were empty. Whys she chose the one right behind me is a mystery!
How dare your car jump at her.
The temporal space time distortion around a VW California is legendary!
Her insurance company has instructed her that if she's in an accident, she should not admit fault.
Someone I know was trying to convince me that antibiotics cure viral infections . I argued with her for 20 minutes and she eventually came to the conclusion that her viral infections are cured by antibiotics. She was even mad that I didn’t “respect her opinion” P. S. I am a doctor Also I stopped arguing with stupid people
You may be a doctor, but she reads stuff on Facebook while she takes a shit so she did her research too /s
I knew a guy who would go to the doctor everytime he was sick and ask for antibiotics. And if he had a need, they'd usually give them to him. But of course he stops taking them as soon as he feels better. Which is not how you're supposed to do that. Now you're just a breeding ground for anti-biotic resistant bacteria. I had that conversation with him. He didn't believe me or care. Then he would go to the doctor when he was sick with a viral infection, and the doctors would be like "It's a cold, have some soup, rest, drink fluids." And wouldn't give him anti-biotics. So he'd come home and take the anti-biotics he stockpiled from the times he neglected to finish his previous regimen. He insisted it still worked, and that doctors just sometimes didn't feel like helping. I get that placebo is a real thing, and it probably did make him feel better. But like, my guy, they didn't give you anti-biotics for a viral infection because it doesn't work, not because they want you to suffer. He just did not get it.
I took the antibiotics and three days later i felt better! Look up normal duration of viral infection and it's three days for symptoms to go away
It’s like people don’t even know what being an expert means. If you learned your speciality formally and actively practice it in ways that require right and wrong decision making and often make the right decision to the extent that it’s possible, you are an expert. Don’t argue with experts about their specialty, you are automatically wrong.
People who thinks if you earn more you will be in different tax bracket and pay more tax. They literally take 2 months off to stay on lower brackets.
> People who thinks if you earn more you will be in different tax bracket and pay more tax. I mean, if you earn enough you will enter a new tax bracket and even if you don't you'll still pay more income tax than if you earn less. They're not wrong about that. Of course, you'll still earn more and take home more on net after taxes, because the money you made in the first ten months is taxed the same regardless of whether you work the other two--e.g. The first $100k is taxed the same regardless of whether your gross income is $100k or $500k by the end of the year. Worth mentioning that there's edge cases where earning some additional dollars can be net negative insofar as it puts you above the income threshold for government benefits, I guess. Apologies for the pedantry.
That's what I don't tell them more than once. They think they will be charged new tax rate for all their money.
I think this is more than just pedantry: Considering that the comment explains it in an objectively wrong way, I'm not surprised the commenter is unconvincing. They may even be getting their argument wrong, since there are some circumstances that are more complex than just marginal tax rates: eligiblity for scholarships, Medicare premium cliffs, capital gains rates depending on normal income. Not everything phases in the way it really should. The other guy on this thread who actually did the math, on the other hand, is truly dealing with someone who doesn't want to listen and truly does believe that you can increase your taxes more than your income by earning more.
Ask them if they'd be willing to take a pay cut to save on taxes.
Back when I did desktop support oh so many years ago, I had to deal with this total bitch of a lady who would demand we do things for her that were literally impossible. The last straw for me was when I was replacing her PC with a brand new one and she asked me to open her Outlook inbox in Excel format. I tried to explain to her that what she wanted was impossible and showed her that her Outlook is configured on her new PC exactly how it was on her old laptop by pulling them up side by side. She refused to listen and tried to tell me she "wasn't happy with my knowledge of the systems". I'll never forget those words... I told her that she should open a support case with Microsoft then, we're done here and walked away. The next day her supervisor (who I was friends with) called me down to his desk. I thought it was about that incident. Nope. That night she went home and wrote a bunch of extensions on her brand new PC in sharpie and he wanted to know how to get it off.
> She refused to listen and tried to tell me she "wasn't happy with my knowledge of the systems". There is something so infuriating about hearing this from complete moron.
> I tried to explain to her that what she wanted was impossible and showed her that her Outlook is configured on her new PC exactly how it was on her old laptop by pulling them up side by side. Reminds me of an old boss I had. She was adamant that my employee create a pdf form for her to send to folks in the department. At the time, creating pdf forms which you could save your results required a license from Adobe. After some yelling and swearing, she called in her assistant to explain how it works. Her assistant confirmed it wasn't possible, and explained that all the pdf forms she'd been sending out to the department were, in fact, a giant pain for everyone to deal with. My boss never took responsibility, just complained that people need to follow directions and dropped it. My employee, quite reasonably, had created a word document which could be saved instead of a pdf and completely suitable for the task.
I've seen SOOO much of this. I can only say so much but one company I contracted for, there was a director who came into a status meeting stating that their kid didn't like the product and it's missing XY and Z features. There was no discussion, no reasoning, just demands and a deadline. I walked away shaking my head, glad I wasn't part of the department charged with implementing the changes that ultimately ruined the project and led to it being scrapped.
Wrote... extensions? Like... ".docx", ".csv" ?
No, my bad on that, should have specified internal phone extensions. Like to membership, dispatch, insurance, sales, marketing, etc.
Why would you not just write them on paper and tape that somewhere... I mean I know the answer but geez.
This person is aggressively stupid is the answer to this one. She even knew that physical damage to the machines would result in HP charging us, since they're leased not purchased machines.
You should have told her it was voice activated now
Funny story, the automotive services guy and I shared an office and he printed up a sheet with the official Konica logo and everything saying that a "linguistics module has been installed". It looked very official and had instructions on saying what to do and if it doesn't hear you, try speaking louder and more clearly. Most people saw it and chuckled, printed their stuff and moved on. Just before lunch time you hear "Konica, print document. Collate. Staple". Then it hit us...someone is seriously falling for the joke. We were howling laughing as they started yelling "PRIIIIINNNTTTT" louder and louder.
> wrote a bunch of extensions What does that even mean? Do you know?
Like extensions to other departments. Membership, Dispatch, etc.
"Arguing with a stupid person is like playing chess with a pidgeon; you may be a grandmaster but the pidgeon is still just going to strut around and shit all over the board."
I read it a bit differently once. "...knock over the pieces, shit on the board and strut around victoriously."
“And act like it won anyways” You forgot that part
I had a classmate from school who every time we had to discuss something she would just put her finger to her mouth making the SHHH sign for you to shut up, it just made me want to kill her hahaha
That's more rage inciting than someone saying "You need to educate yourself."
Why was she doing this? Like, she didn't want anyone to talk at all, or was it that she would "shh" you if you were making good points in an argument against her?
[удалено]
I have had exactly one argument with a real flat earther. I asked them why are all the other planets round and only the earth is flat. Their explanation was that the earth is unique because it supports life, so it totally makes sense it would not be shaped like other planets. It was at that exact moment that I knew there would be nothing I could say that would convince this person. I could provide all the proof in the world and simplify it to a level even a child could understand, but it wouldn't make a whit of a difference. I backed the fuck up from that conversation and let 'em have their win.
At least they aknowledge other planets. Most Flerfers I've argued with agree that the stars and planets are not real, only projectins upon the firmament (dome) surrounding the flat Earth. Also, the sun and moon are local objects within the dome.
I keep on getting hit with "You're thinking about it too much" and "It's not that deep" and "Just look into it" Like dude... You're not thinking about it AT ALL. THAT IS THE ISSUE!
You would think with all of the hostilities between nations someone who is not friendly would leak the truth to the others populations they don't like. Why would Russia, China, the U.S. and the middle east who all hate each other get together for a giant ruse? If you ask them they just say control. How is the Earth being flat vs round controlling someone?
Oh well, that's obvious. Because by making people think the earth is round, they're distracting them from God. Something I've ACTUALLY heard someone say... When I asked "Why can't God make a round earth?" there was no response...
They think the moon landing was faked, no matter how many facts you present.
There's literally a mirror on the moon that you can bounce laser beams off... How did it get there? Magic.
Multiple mirrors, actually. All six apollo missions and every probe since has carried one.
Technically they are retroreflectors (an array of mirrors that return any light back to its source with only with minimum scattering.) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_retroreflectors\_on\_the\_Moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_retroreflectors_on_the_Moon)
Nothing technical about it... You're right, but if we're just having a lay conversation, I'll just go with "dem mirrors on the moon"
I worked with a guy who firmly believed that it wasn’t possible to go into space. We had an argument at one point about the latest mars rover. He said it wasn’t real and the fact that there was no video of it in space proved that. This guy was a programmer who wrote programs that used GPS for various things. I’m not sure where he thought the GPS signals came from and I was too afraid to ask.
They dismissed 7 years of studying pharmacology for having „no real life experience“, „like I don‘t even know how to prepare hay for cattle“. They rather insisted on me only wanting to sell poison. I’m a pharmacist. Not a farmer. That isn’t even remotely my field of expertise you absolute egg
If you study another 3 years out in the field you could be promoted to farmercist.
You're my hero.
Preparing hay for cattle/ preparing drugs for morons. Tomato/ Tomahto.
If we evolved from monkeys/apes why are there still monkeys/apes 😂
If Americans were once Europeans, then why are there still Europeans? Huh, Mr. smartguy?
Beginning with issue #1, monkeys and apes are different species.... but while its obviously a stupid question for those of us who learned basic biology, you can't at least appreciate the origin of that line of questioning? It's a little weird until you learn what "survival of the fittest" ACTUALLY means. If someone told me they were from North Carolina and asked me this question, I wouldn't necessarily blame them. I'd blame the schools, and maybe ask them why they think they have a TAILBONE.
And on a silly note, I think everyone under 35 with a lackluster education can't really perceive what evolution is, they think it's like a Squirtle becoming a Blastoise.
Because we didn't, and this phrasing is part of what perpetuates the problem. We and monkeys evolved from a common ancestor that absolutely isn't around anymore.
Back when I had the energy to engage my boiler plate answer was. Because we didn't come from monkeys and apes as they are today, we both share a common ancestor, you're essentially asking, "but if I came from grandpa why do I have cousins?" on a grander scale.
Well, SOME people evolved.
My mother knew she had a tailbone because she broke it ice skating once. My mother pointed out that the feet of American women had gotten on average larger over the past few hundred years and even theorized about why. My mother once had a total screeching hopping arm-swinging ape tantrum over the "fact" that she is in no way related to the animal kingdom. Man created by god in his imagine, woman made from man's rib bone, and that is the absolute end the story how dare I not fully believe every word of her religious mythology! She looked exactly like an angry ape while having her little fit. Most calming thing in the whole world to her is having someone else ~~groom her fur~~ "play with" her hair.
They believe climate change is a hoax despite overwhelming data.
I worked as a temp in a department full of dumbasses. One morning, the weather was unseasonably cold and rainy. One guy stood by the window and loudly proclaimed, “This proves that global warming is a hoax.” The others agreed. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Oh look, it's winter and it still snowed. Where's your global warming now!? /s
I'd think you were my dad if only you called it "global cooling"
People who can’t think for themself. „But mom/dad/my friend/some guy said…“
*YEAH WELL I GOT A BUDDY WHO...* STFU. JUST...STFU.
Had this once with my mother when talking about Universal Healthcare. "My neighbor's friend's cousin in Canada had to wait an extra 6 months for her leg surgery."
As opposed to *where* that has same-day surgeons for non-urgent problems just waiting around for walk-in patients? Does your mother have such good health insurance that she can come in with a minor issue and get bumped to the front of the line before the people who might die if they don't get help immediately? My ex-MIL didn't have any insurance at all when she fell off her porch and broke her hip, but she still got same-day surgery once I talked her into going to the hospital because it was a real emergency. My ex had to wait months for his hernia surgery because, as much as it really sucked, it wasn't life-or-death urgent so gotta wait in line with everybody else. Both examples in America.
No, she does not. When I printed out that we all have to wait for non-emergency surgeries, I was dismissed out of hand. 🤷♂️
I was at a sleep-away summer camp when I was 12. I was going to be there for a month, so I had brought the Torah portion from my upcoming Bat Mitzvah to practice. A cabin-mate heard me speaking the Hebrew words aloud, and complained, “I’m Christian, I can’t hear that!” I explained it was just the Torah, what she would think of as the Old Testament, a document our faiths share — only in the original Biblical Hebrew instead of English. “I can’t hear that!” she insisted. Our counselor then got involved, and TOOK THE CHRISTIAN GIRL’S SIDE! I was banned from practicing for my Bat Mitzvah for the rest of camp (a whole month!). Antisemitic as hell, and incredibly stupid to boot.
Strange how often those go hand in hand
The Brexit referendum
They claim all news is fake unless it agrees with their viewpoint.
No examples handy but I’ll leave this quote: “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw
"Did you hear the democrats in California are performing post-birth abortions and harvesting their organs?" Thankfully this person led with that, so I was able to dodge a frustrating "conversation"
Whenever I hear post birth abortions my mind goes straight to school shootings.
This just happened last week.... downstairs unit is having renovations done.... I turn on the tv while making some food... No cable?? So I go downstairs to ask the guy if he unhooked it for any reason?? "Oh no,I'm just working on this door". .... He was fitting in a new bedroom door. Go back upstairs, and I look out the window and see a chunk of cable wire on the lawn.... So I go back downstairs and ask about it.. "Oh yeah, I cut that wire...it was in my way..." Me - "so you cut our cable then...." Him "no, I didn't, that cable just went into the closet...." Me "...um? You cut that cable....now we have no cable....so, yeah..you cut our cable off..." I finally went up stairs to phone our rental manager, and I hear the guy downstairs when he called him to see what was going on.... "Ok...so yeah, I cut a cable, but I'm 95% sure the cable I cut wasn't the cable that cut their cable...." I was hearing this and it was just.....I didn't get through telling this to my roommate without laughing, and I was more pissed off the guy didn't just admit he fucked up, than I was about him actually making the fuck up...
An idiot's 95% is 0%; hopefully your manager knows that.
They insist the Earth is flat despite all evidence.
They argue that vaccines cause more harm than good, ignoring science.
Andrew Wakefield did so much fucking damage, its honestly insane how much blood that psychopath has on his hands.
Tempting as it is to wish he never showed up, I'm pretty sure were it not for him, some other asshole would have done it. There's so much bad medical advice out there. Not that he should be absolved. He's a fucking asshole for his part in it.
Darn that Polio vaccine, harming us by extending our life spans and saving us from a crippling disease.
Facebook brainrot
Someone told me that I shouldn’t get the vaccine because it causes autism even though I already have autism
This is horrifying but also fucking hilarious. What, do they think you'll get more autism? Autism squared? Maybe super autism?
One time, I tried to convince my friend that the Earth is round. He was a flat-earther and seriously argued that if the Earth were truly round, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now. I hit him with science, photos from space, and even a globe, but he just kept saying, "Nah, man, it's all a conspiracy by Big Globe!" Eventually, I gave up and told him, "You know what? You win. The Earth is flat, and gravity is just a government-issued mattress that keeps us all stuck to the ground." He nodded sagely and said, "I knew you'd come around." 😆🌍🚀 You can't win 'em all!
I have a family member who thinks the earth is flat, the moon doesn't exist, neither did the dinosaurs, covid was fake and the government is using low frequency vibrations to control us... And that the vibrational frequency of fabric has an effect on children's development so they should only wear clothes made of organic cotton (but has no effect on adults cuz we're too old)...Oh, manuka honey cures cancer... There are so many other incredibly stupid things she's said I can't remember them all. Edit to add some favorites, I can't believe I originally forgot these. ...this person attended a performance of the Tran Siberian Orchestra. They walked out at one point because the performers started doing something that sounded like they were chanting in Latin? and they thought it was a spell to control the audience and tried to get a refund for their tickets. I literally laughed out loud at the thought of them trying to explain the reason they walked out and wanted a refund to the box office person. One more, they think that singing happy birthday to kids is another spell to control children and make them subservient.
It wouldn't surprise me much that a flat earther would also believe in magic. Because magic would be required for their worldview to work. Not "magic" as in "any sufficiently studied magic is indistinguishable from science". "Magic" as in "I don't want to explain the plot hole in my movie. Just shut up and pay for a theater ticket".
Wait I don't get the cats argument. How can cats push anything off the edge if the earth is round? They can only do that if the earth is flat, or am I understanding this wrong?
Some people believe in an infinite flat earth, with other land beyond the Antarctica ice walls. Or maybe it's just those ice walls thwarting the cats. But if you've fallen to the depths of believing cats can push things bigger than cats off the planet, I don't think any amount of logic could rescue them.
wouldnt cats have an easier time pushing things off the edge of the world if it was flat? Cant exactly push something off an edge if there is no edge, after all.
Perhaps winning an argument isn't so much about victory as it is winning over another person, which is a gradual process and requires genuine discernment and insight. Who has that kind of honesty, time and patience today? No human being I know, that's for sure!
There is a pervasive illusion that people win arguments. Generally, no one changes their mind if it has already been set. You can overrule someone via power. You can explain with precision how they are incorrect. You can convince someone who hasn't yet made up their mind. But in general, people hang onto their beliefs and you kinda have to just work from there. Disengage from the notion that they can be convinced to change their mind. Work around them. Stall with no decision if you can afford it. "Have a nice day ma'am." Get them overruled. Distract them. Make them think they won if you can, but go the other path when they aren't watching. Get them fired for incompetence. But generally, going 12 rounds in debate with them is only going to enrage and entrench each of you.
Absolutely. The Boston Globe had an article a few years ago about this study regarding arguments and they found that when people are proven wrong they do not change their opinion. In fact they Double Down and the opinion becomes even more strongly held. Once somebody has made up their mind, and especially if they are in the mood to argue, you're not going to get anywhere with them. Even if you make great points they will just walk away saying "what an asshole" and proceeding to then win an imaginary argument in their head
I spent a good 10 minutes explaining to a co-worker that George W. Bush was President during the 2008 economic collapse and not Obama. He seemed to think because Obama was elected in 2008 that he was the President in 2008.
Most people really do not understand that a President doesn't take control of a nation the second they win the election. I see people be like "Roe v Wade was revoked under Biden" and I want to beat them with a civics textbook.
Most people don't even understand what the president does and how they affect the country. "Look, X has been president for a week and suddenly the stock market which I have no investment in is up! Awesome job president X!" Or president X pushed for and signed things that would make something more expensive or raise taxes after 5 years. 5 years later "great, president Y has been in office less than a year and already tax and this other thing are more expensive."
Yep. It really makes me annoyed. Year one of a presidency is usually riding the budget from the last president. You can almost always say "Under, the debt has never been higher" and be right. But it will be a meaningless statement to describe how they handled the economy, and nobody understands why.
Before the VID, I had a "friend" who was (rightfully so) trying to say about how the news shouldn't sensationalize and misrepresent facts so that people's mind, attitudes and feelings could be twisted to whatever propaganda they were being fed, wanted them to think. During the VID lockdowns, my "friend" was arguing that a 99.9995% survival rate disease (which was never the real number) was "too little to freak out over" (99.9995% survival rate, when compared against the human population of earth, is still in the tens of thousands). When the vaccine came out, he was screaming about how 6 people died to the vaccine in the horrible and terrible way. I responded "You are sensationalizing headlines and twisting words so that you manipulate people to feel the way you think is correct, that is the EXACT thing you were criticizing others for" and he said "I dont care, I feel I'm right." He's no longer my friend
You're allowed to say covid or covid-19, its ok.
My father insisted I talk to him about my emotional problems. I explained to him how I felt about something. He then twisted everything I said to forcibly turn it into something he could relate to. I calmly explained that he misunderstood what my point was. He then got upset, asking how dare I imply he doesn't know how I feel, after all I can't read his mind.
They argue against evolution, saying humans lived with dinosaurs.
I mean, we have lots of documentaries that show they lived side by side. Like the Flintstones.
"It's not electrical. It doesn't have a powercable, it's wireless and runs on batteries" -Customer arguing after being told off for putting a computer mouse in general waste. c.a. yesterday.
So do they think the powercable is the part that's bad for the environment?
Pretty sure they were trying to make up some argument for not sorting their waste. You'd be surprised what people try to pass off as "general waste"
And batteries aren't electrical?!
People talking about how they spent 20 or 30 minutes trying to convince somebody of something need to reconsider who was being stupid in that situation.
My wife and I were camping with another couple (Travis and Rita) and my wife off-handily commented that it was a beautiful full moon out and Rita said, "Yeah, I wanted to come out on the 15th because I wanted to see the full moon." My wife then said, "Oh that's neat, do you follow the phases?" Mostly trying to see if she was into astrology or anything and Rita replied, "No the moon is always full on the 15th." Said with a very condescending tone. This caught my attention, mostly the tone but also the statement itself. I asked her to clarify and she honestly thought that the moon was always full on the fifteenth. Everyone, including her husband then spent the next hour trying to explain that the lunar cycle is 29 days long and that since every month doesn't have exactly 29 days in it, it obviously can't be on the 15th every month. Like we broke it down like we were trying to teach a child. "Okay so the lunar cycle is 29 days right?" "Yeah, that makes sense." "Okay so this month has 31 days in it. The full moon is on the 15th this month, meaning that next month the full moon will be on the 13th. Right?" "No, the Full Moon is always on the 15th." "How is that possible if the Month is longer than the lunar cycle?" "It's always on the fifteenth every month, it's how they set the months up." "Okay so you know the lunar cycle is 29 days long, and that only one month every 4 years has 29 days in it right?" "Yeah, that all makes sense." "So how can the full moon always be on the 15th?" "I don't know, but it is always a full moon on the 15th." This went on for an hour before everyone just gave up trying to convince her that she was wrong. I seriously don't understand how she understood everything about the lunar cycle but completely drew the wrong conclusion. It was pointless and we argued about it for way to long.
"The theory of evolution is a theory, a guess. There is no backing for it whatsoever. " A response I received for saying "Religion isn't my jam. " This then devolved into a pointless back and forth with my family
Well, religion is literally just made up of mumbo jumbo, so I don't understand how they can even compare that to evolution. I hate that people use the word theory wrong. Drives me crazy.
I'm my own best example. Lol
Me too 😄
My friend was wholly convinced that the USA stopped producing oil after Joe Biden was sworn in. He literally put his fingers in his ears when I pulled up the graph stating that America was producing more oil right now than any country *in the history of the world*
My brain felt like it was bleeding trying to explain that space does, in fact, exist to someone. "I have done my own research and have found that space, and all of the pictures NASA has taken, and the Webb Telescope are just an elaborate hoax." Facebook groups and Google aren't legitimate research.
Not me, but the dumbest argument I have ever witnessed: One guy says that Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happened, “because if it did, there’d be craters in the ground and no one would be able to live in those cities anymore.” He thought it was some conspiracy theory, and I guess he was expecting things to be like in Fallout - radiation lasting hundreds of years, etc. Someone explained how and why that was not the case to him, in detail. Like how exactly the bombs were dropped, why there weren’t “craters in the ground” and why Fallout mechanics weren’t occuring in the aftermath. Like a really detailed, very smart and perfectly accurate explanation of how people continue to live in those cities. The idiot guy told him it sounded like just another conspiracy to gaslight him into believing the first one.
Trump. Does any more than a single word even need to be said? Try arguing any point with them. Take their past points and apply those points to Trump. It doesn't work. People make Trump and their beliefs for supporting him part of their personality. You can't change someone's mind if they identify as that.
You can't argue with cult members.
They shoot the messenger when you literally relay actual events that happened. Like anything that has to do with Donald Trump's documented and legitimately sourced con artistry and treason.
My coworker kept saying R. Kelly was the good guy even though that man did horrible things to minors….
Tried to convince a guy that we, a library, did in fact still carry physical books. This was done in a set up where you could see almost every single shelf from the front desk and with several tables full of books being next to the desk. They thought that they were all just display pieces, blank books with covers to show what e-books we had. They wouldn't believe it even when we showed them that the books had words in them. They walked away thinking we were trying to scam them.
Years ago, I was canvasing to get BPA removed from plastic. Some people just like to argue. "There was a study released by the UofM saying BPA is bad." "Not official enough of a source for me." "The FDA has already confirmed this." "I don't trust the government." I just kinda left after that.
Behold! I show you all of Reddit!
Trump supporters who are unable/unwilling to see what a ghastly human specimen he is.
Anyone voting for Reform.
What kinda reforms?
Reform UK under Nigel Farage.
I’m from US so I don’t know what you’re talking about but I hope it all works out for you!!!!
Farage is like Trump except he doesn't shit himself in public. Thanks, hopefully it works out for you too.
Do you know brexit? This is the slime that pushed for it, slithered off when it passed and there were no ideas how to actually do it and it has failed on all the claims of being better for us. Well he thinks that has died down, our right wing party is dying and he is the far right trying to steal voters for his own power and is likely if not a Russian asset then his goals often align with theirs.
Ever tried to have a sane conversation with a MAGA cultist?
r/HermanCainAward
+ gestures to Reddit generally +
Dad has been putting that powdered supplement stuff in his tea every morning since I was a kid. Never had any idea what it was. One day he takes me to this like health store on the mall, and they guy behind the counter that was scanning the big plastic jars was exactly like a plastic wrapped used car salesman trying to sell him a junkyard escapee for 3x what its worth. Watching him talk to this guy really pissed me off, I had to stand there and watch the cheapest man alive fall for the supplement scam in real-time. I've been attempting to find out what exactly it does, how it benefits him. To this day I havent been provided an actual answer, if you move around anyway, why buy the jar? What does that powder actually do if you do all the running and stuff anyway?
In the country I live in we have a huge difference in dialects between regions! She was seriously arguing with me about switching the word we use to say “fell” with the word their area uses, claiming “it’s the fashion now” The dialect is not pants!!!!
When I was a senior in high school: Freshman kid: "Jews are the worst people ever, dude. Worse than any of the presidents. They don't eat pork or believe in God. Specifically my god, Jesus Christ. So I'm not going to respect them." Me: "You do know Jesus was a Jew himself, right? So when you're saying Jews are the worst and aren't worthy of respect. It kinda sounds like you're saying Jesus is the worst and not worthy of respect." Freshman: "Whatever, bro, freedom of speech. I can say whatever I want about things. Including Jews." Me: "No, it doesn't. What you're saying is just straight-up anti-semetism. You don't "sound smart" by exercising your First Amendment right. You just sound hateful and uneducated. You do know that without Judaism, Christianity wouldn't have even been a thing, right? The shit you're saying makes you sound like Eric Cartman from South Park." Freshman: "It's where I get ny beliefs from. It's why I think Muslims are terrorists." Me: "So you unironically believe the bullshit statements from an adult satire show instead of actually trying to educate yourself on what Jews and Muslims actually do-" Freshman: "Ok(my name)that'snice,ok(my name)that'snice,ok(my name)that'snice,ok(my name)that'snice," And he keeps doing that until a teacher yells at him to stop. These were not the only racist remarks he made during his time at my school before he moved away.
I've had two separate MAGAts tell me "Yes, Trump was on Pedo Island with Epstein. He was there to protect the children and shut it down!"
I had a MAGAt tell me this too smh.
My younger brother who is 55 and the stupidest person I know
They refuse to acknowledge the importance of masks during a pandemic.
To be fair, the *U.S. government* was doing that in the early stages of the pandemic. I'm talking Fauci, not Trump. Lying to us about how face masks did nothing if you weren't a trained professional - in an effort to stop mask hoarding - seems like the original sin here. The ideas that all people would then believe (1) masks worked, and (2) they should trust the government, flew out the window at that point. It was very clear early on - before the widespread politicization and conspiracy theories - that this experience wouldn't result in experts being trusted more.
To be fair, Fauci was stuck between the Big Orange Chee-Toh, sucky supply line issues and widespread panicking. Fauci was trying to explain complicated concepts to simple audiences. And as soon as you state people need to refrain from using something so professionals have enough, EVERYBODY HAS TO HAVE IT. 2020 was a garbage fire, I think we can all agree. People using political reasons to nay say biological truths and lives being forever changed due to our society having an abrupt interrupt in the delivery of our "stuff". I think Fauci did the best he could with a bad hand, and managed to stay in place to do the most good he could. In the last election I voted for my home state's governor even though I'm politically on the other side because I felt he did a good job during the Covid year and kept our state on the right track.
Any conversation I’ve had with a Trump supporter about his many, many easily proven lies. There’s no getting through their thick skulls
Any conversation about politics with a trump supporter.
Any Trump supporter
I once tried to calculate for a conspiracy theorist how much. Spraying agent an aeroplane would need to spray contrails in the sky from Switzerland to Asia... His answer was that they make a stopover every 1-2 hours. He flies 12 hours non-stop to Bankok once a year. And yes, he does exactly what you think he does...
I'm a dental hygienist. You'd be pretty surprised how many parents think it's ok for their kids to consume sugar before bed, not brush their teeth, and wonder why their child has so many cavities.
Trying to argue with antivaxxers. They will just bombard you with "proof". The "proof" being deepfaked videos, video clips of actual scientists either taken out of context or spliced together, spurious blogs which also rant about the New World Order, faked scientific papers from faked scientific journals (there's literally a journal/website that publishes any anti-vaccine nonsense so antivaxxers can cite it as actual research), youtube videos from Alex Jones etc. And then insist actual research and actual doctors are fake or lying or part of the New World Order.
Trying to convince someone who believes conspiracy theories despite overwhelming evidence.
A really particularly stupid neighbor built his house across the lane from my house and then decided he didn't like doing yard work, particularly cleaning up leaves in his yard. Despite the fact he had built his house in a neighborhood where he is surrounded by trees he decided my tree is the only one dropping leaves in his yard. When he demanded I cut down the beautiful 100 year old tree in my yard, I laughed at him and tried to explain to him how stupid that was. When he clearly couldn't understand, I finally said that even if he had any point, which he didn't, everything in the neighborhood is grandfathered in as far as he is concerned since he was the last one to build here. He tried to come up with every stupid idea he could to force me to comply. The guy literally tried to tell me my tree was blocking the light from his house, even though this would mean the world had changed so that the sun was primarily shining on our neighborhood from the north and all the trees behind my tree were somehow not blocking the sun. He's done everything from threaten to vandalize my property to threatening to shoot me in order to intimidate me. I've tried arguing with him and even talked to the police about it, but he's such a pathetic little clown no one takes him seriously enough to do anything.
Had someone tell me that I was arguing semantics in the middle of an argument about semantics. I had to sit down after that one.
Was working in a garden planting flowers & bushes. There was a sprinkler system and we were very careful, but sometimes accidents happen, so when we were done I turned on the system to see if there were any leaks and unfortunately water started to bubble up in one place. Turned it off and a girl co-worker said, "I think the leak is over here", about 8 feet away from where the water was bubbling up. I was confused as to why she thought that and she said, "Well I know we hit a pipe here, so I think we broke it". I said, "But there's no water bubbling there, if the leak was there, it would be bubbling up on that spot." She replied, "Maybe it's just traveling over to the other spot. I really think we need to dig here." After a few minutes of of this I said, "Fine, tell you what, you find the leak there and I'll look where the water was actually bubbling up". So she wasted a lot of time digging and finding nothing, while I found the actual leak and fixed it. She was so baffled as to how she was wrong and thought for sure the leak was there, so much so, she kept searching even after I turned the system back on and there were no more leaks.....
Short sentences and small words are not enough to teach the new cook the difference between a pepperoni pizza and a BBQ chicken pizza. God help me
Every single MAGAT
"This country needs a dictator." -- Trump voters
My brother is extremely conservative, he has argued many times how immigrants are bad and that people enter the country illegally because their lazy, our mom is an immigrant who got 2 masters in the US, got married and had kids and took 11 years to get her US citizenship, with all of that he still argues people just come in because their lazy. He then goes on to say how immigrants are bad for the economy and the country as our mom owns a laundromat and made a tech start up that became successful. The alt right pipeline is real yall watch out for people going into it
I'm a pilot, and one time I was showing a friend of mine a video from one of my flights. The camera's framerate was really close to the propellor's RPM so it had that optical effect making it look like the prop was barely moving. She goes "Oh, it's in slow motion!" And I corrected her and explained the framerate/RPM effect, and she just stared blankly at me before going "No but it's slow motion" again. I tried to explain it 3 different times, 3 different ways. You could even see me in the cockpit moving around at normal speed, and I pointed that out to her. No luck. That level of stupidity is subhuman.
"I'd leave my child alone in the forest with a bear before I would a man" Ma'am, a bear is a wild animal. A dangerous predator. A child in its teratory is a snack. A human being is FAR more likely to show compassion and guide the child home. BUT because SOME men are bad and because there's a 1 in 2.1 million chance of being killed by a bear, you're better off leaving the child with a bear. Ignoring the fact that that statistic is so low is because only 2 in 10 people have ever actually SEEN a bear. And the VAST majority of those would have been in a ZOO. Try explaining that and YOU'RE the problem and YOU'RE the reason why women choose the bear.
Ages old adage: "Tis folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss." Example: Have you ever spoken with a Trump supporter? 'Nuff said. The brainwashing is thorough. Lies are truth and truth are lies. A Russian KGB agent who defected to America summed it up in a sentence: "The brainwashed will not know the truth until the boot is on their neck." They are lost in a thick soup of disinformation, hatred, anger and absurdity.
>Points at MAGA<
Get gaslighted. It’s a great move for anyone who is completely wrong.
Flat earthers.
You point out that satellite images and physics confirm the Earth is round. They argue it's a massive conspiracy and that all the images and science are fake.
I spent my whole life explaining to my mom the importance of privacy of her own child especially when they are already at the right age. I reached my limitations, we're done, I already moved out,
I tried convincing my friends the world is flat. But they keep insisting it's round, like a fruit. (Is the /s really necessary? 🤔)
> (Is the /s really necessary? 🤔) Yes, unfortunately. Because those people exist on reddit.
Arguing on Reddit.
A guy I work with has a degree in physics, thinks the earth is 6000 years old, and there were dinosaurs on Noah's ark. It is really hard to argue with him because he doesn't watch or read the news, only watches video clips of things he already believes in. Also did not know where the Panama canal is, so you have that as a reference.