Hey everyone, today we’re talking about ~debates~ and whether or not you have a right
to other people's time.
The reason we’re talking about this is because recently, some conservative asshole on the
internet demanded that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez debate him, he even offered her a $10,000
campaign contribution if she accepted.
If you don’t know who Ocasio-Cortez is, she’s a progressive Democrat who recently
won a huge primary against the more moderate incumbent Democrat, Joe Crowley, in New York
City’s 14th Congressional District.
Nobody expected her to win, but her leftist values -- medicare-for-all, tuition-free college
for all, and the abolition of ICE and private prisons -- turned out to be super popular.
She’s also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and is just an all-around badass.
So she never responded to that conservative asshole’s offer, but she did screenshot
someone else’s tweet that said she refused to debate him, and she said: “Just like
catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions.
And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one.”
Which honestly, was the perfect response -- he wasn’t even worth a real response.
And in the time since then, he’s only proven her point by going *off* about how disrespected he’s been.
She has continued to ignore him while he has continuously tweeted about her and ran articles
on his website about her.
And the whole “not letting it go and just getting angrier thing” is really the kind
of catcaller stuff that Ocasio-Cortez was talking about in the first place.
He clearly feels entitled to her time and attention, and she’s refusing to give it
to him, which I think sets a great example.
She’s a congressional candidate, she doesn’t have time to debate every conservative asshole
on the internet, and she doesn’t need to.
Her job isn’t to argue with trolls who will most definitely make bad faith arguments,
her job is to represent her district and show why she’s a better option than her opponent.
That conservative asshole isn’t from her district and isn’t her opponent, and she
doesn’t owe him anything.
But I think this gets at something deeper which is the right’s ability to harass their
way into discussions because they feel entitled to everyone’s time and attention.
Kind of like a child screaming until you pay attention to it.
They just want to annoy you enough that you have to listen to them and give them what
they want, or they won’t stop harassing you.
It’s happened to me like a million times.
People still randomly tell me I have to debate them and it’s just like, what planet are you living on?
I’ve literally never done a public debate, what makes you think you’re so special that
I’m going to care to debate you?
You think just because you exist on the internet and disagree with me that I have to debate
you on your podcast and YouTube channel and every other platform where you can monetize
it and use my name for publicity?
Nah, that’s not what I’m here for.
If I agreed to debate every random internet troll, I’d be arguing all day and all night
for the rest of my life.
And all it would do is give them the attention they so desperately crave, while not actually
doing anything to further the conversation because public debates are a terrible forum
for discussing things -- especially on YouTube or a podcast or any platform like that.
These kinds of debates are about winning.
They’re about getting the “This person OWNED this person” headlines.
They’re not actually about having a productive conservation around any topic.
They’re about drumming up media attention for these conservatives whose terrible ideas
would otherwise wither away because nobody wants to fucking hear about them.
The only way that alt-right folks can get people to listen to their horrible ideas is
to be intentionally provocative, demand that people prove them wrong, and then spend the
whole conversation shifting the goalposts -- moving the argument onto another point
before you can prove them wrong on the first one.
None of that is helpful.
If you want to debate, you have every right to, but I sure as hell won’t be doing it,
and I fully support anyone else who doesn’t want to waste their time doing that.
There are so many ways to discuss ideas and engage with differing viewpoints without having
big flashy debates with awful people.
But even if debates were an effective medium for discussing ideas, you still wouldn’t
have to debate anyone.
Imagine if Ocasio-Cortez responded to everybody who challenged her to a debate.
She wouldn’t have any time to run her actual congressional campaign.
Imagine if I just ran around challenging people who don’t even know me to a debate.
Like how about right now, I challenge Trump to a debate.
And if he turns it down, he’s a coward who hates logic and rational arguments.
While I’m at it, I’ll also challenge Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to a debate, why not.
Apparently I’m allowed to just demand that politicians debate me now, I guess that’s
how this works all of a sudden.
So, remember kids, if you ever see anyone you disagree with, even if they’re incredibly
busy public figures or politicians, you are entitled to a debate with them.
If they ignore your request for a debate, they’re a coward.
Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?
Imagine if I now went on a Twitter tirade and published a shit ton of articles demanding
that someone debate me, like it would just be ridiculous.
It would clearly be more for show than it would be for discussing any sort of actual issue.
But anyway, the point of all of this is just to say: You don’t owe anyone a debate.
Nobody is entitled to your time and attention.
You have the freedom to decide who you want to debate or not debate.
No matter how many times they tweet you or write articles about you or otherwise obsess
over you and harass you, you don’t owe them shit.
They’re desperate for the attention and if they’re going to such lengths to bully
you into a debate, they’re probably going to be arguing in bad faith anyway.
They’ll try to convince you that you have to debate them, but don’t fall for it.
Your time is your own, and you don’t owe them that.
The most powerful thing you can do is to denounce their ideas and ignore them.
They’re not even worthy of your attention.
And yeah, that’s all I had for you today.
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help me out so much.
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Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.