this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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A Boring Dystopia
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I may be misunderstanding, but are you approaching this from the perspective that anyone you're debating with on a public forum is emotionally attached to one side or another?
If someone is proactively expressing an opinion or responding, they are frequently pretty attached to the position they take if it is vaguely important.
It's not universal, but it's probable that if you make a strong statement towards the Internet, your view is kind of set and certainly some text from some anonymous guy on the Internet is supremely low on the list of things that are going to change your mind.
By virtue of being somebody who argues on the internet, shouldn't you then reason that all of your beliefs are suspect, especially the ones you believe most strongly? You must surely expect that you are as unreceptive to new ideas that challenge your beliefs as anyone else. In particular, any evidence in favour of the idea that people can change their mind when confronted with new information you would simply discard.
Yes. In fact, all of us should simultaneously attempt to defecate in our pants… ready? 3…. 👀
Sounds like they are. If you are willing to debate, you are very likely "emotionally attached" to the side you are advocating for.
Hmm, I guess it stands to reason that people willing to argue with you about the subject are more likely to be emotionally invested in it. I wouldn't say that's overwhelmingly true though.
People become emotionally invested because they argue. Arguing fortifies their emotional stance.
In my admittedly anecdotal experience I regularly hear people arguing a point I made, that days earlier they were fervently fighting against. Either I'm incredibly persuasive, or I think it's really just ego. People can't admit they're wrong, even if they 100% know you are right. Once they forget they had their ego tied into your argument, they seem to often accept new information.
This I honestly don't believe in.
It's true though. It's about cognitive dissonance. Like actual cognitive dissonance, not the internet buzzword version.
When our actions and beliefs don't match up, it makes us uncomfortable. And as much as we'd all love to think we'd change our actions to match our beliefs, the truth about humanity is that we're just as likely to change our beliefs to match our actions.
Look at the Ben Franklin effect. Ben Franklin asks for a favor from his enemy, something small like borrowing a book. His enemy lends him the book because it would be impolite not to. Then he experiences dissonance. It makes him uncomfortable that he's being nice to someone he hates. Instead of not being nice, he lets go of his hate.
Any outward action you take that aligns with a certain belief moves your internal compass towards that belief.
I'm convinced this is the worst effect that social media has had on society.
never heard of the ben franklin effect before, neat.
It at least holds true for a lot of people, and is even enforced in some forms of leadership training. Some folks believe the worst thing is to be perceived as ever being wrong and will push hard against that outcome no matter what.
If you weakly hold an opinion, it's more malleable, but you are also unlikely to express that opinion strongly.