Common arguments that get on your nerves

[Misanthrope]

The usual disclaimers apply here: I'm posting to discuss arguments other people use not to argue with people so keep it civil, think of it as a debate club where you hold positions you might not necessarily agree with for the sake of argument and such.

 

First one is a very common: People claiming subjectivity where none exists. Now in some cases I understand things can be subjective like taste in movies, music, etc. But a lot of people use this as an excuse to basically not provide any sources, any proof to back up their claims, etc.

 

Case and point: A guy on some Facebook group asked a very open ended question: AMD vs Intel. To which a guy proceeds to say oh it's a matter of opinion and such. I fail to see how opinions factor on things we can accurately measure and compare like spec sheets and test results. After that they presented the usual arguments in favor of AMD like how they're "cheaper" and how some very cheap builds that want warranties are better on APUs, etc. But none of this arguments have anything to do with any subjective opinion where they were trying to claim "Oh some users just prefer AMD as their user experience" which is again, imho, nonsense when it comes to a piece of silicon that processes 1s and 0s as fast and concurrently as requested.

[Volbet]

Basically any argument that forms on the basis of a logical fallacy. 

Some of my favorites are: 

• Arguments from Popularity (X amount of people think A is correct. Therefor A is correct)
• No True Scotsman Fallacy (X is not a real A. I'm an A and therefor I know)
• Historian's Fallacy (X (who died in 1779) would think A about this modern issue)
• Argument from Nature (when relating to an ethics debat) (A is natural and therefor A is morally good) 
• False Dichotomies and False Equivalence (If not A then B, and X = Z)

And yes, I'm very much guilty of all of them on a regular basis. 

[Misanthrope]

The no true scotsman and false dichotomies are becoming common place sadly.

[Citadelen]

"Socialism is bad"

"Where do atheists get their morals?"

I have more but they aren't coming to mind.

 

 

[Godlygamer23]

When it comes to ingredients in our food, the concept that natural is automatically good and artificial is automatically bad. 

[Misanthrope]

5 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

When it comes to ingredients in our food, the concept that natural is automatically good and artificial is automatically bad. 

I particularly recent this coming from Nature and Vegan food enthusiasts: "Nature" as if that makes it the only natural source: What are cows and pigs made of, asteroid dust?

[PlayStation 2]

amd vs nvidia /thread

No, really, this argument gets really tiring because rarely does anyone ever account for use case scenarios.

[Misanthrope]

2 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

amd vs nvidia /thread

No, really, this argument gets really tiring because rarely does anyone ever account for use case scenarios.

Or to be more specific, they attribute a lot more value to them for what users realistically do with them i.e. "AMD is cheaper because of the APU only rigs" yeah, like tons of people are gonna settle for an APU rig they have to build themselves instead of one that's already ready to go like a laptop or a PS4

[Mr.Meerkat]

All a electronic company vs electronic company flame wars as they never think about the whole picture...(for example, apple vs samsung, AMD vs Nvidia, AMD vs Intel ect.)

[Godlygamer23]

4 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

I particularly recent this coming from Nature and Vegan food enthusiasts: "Nature" as if that makes it the only natural source: What are cows and pigs made of, asteroid dust?

Honestly, I would have to ask people who make that argument....Do you live in a house? Drive a car? Eat crackers? How about chocolate bars? Use a cell phone? They all have one thing in common: None of them naturally occur. Our lives are largely artificial.

[Misanthrope]

6 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Honestly, I would have to ask people who make that argument....Do you live in a house? Drive a car? Eat crackers? How about chocolate bars? Use a cell phone? They all have one thing in common: None of them naturally occur. Our lives are largely artificial.

Vegans in particular suffer from this argument: There is no naturally occurring B12 sources that do not come directly from animals or their byproducts. None at all, meaning all vegans claiming to be eating and all natural diet should basically be dead by now.

[ThinkWithPortals]

X is objectively better than Y.

To support my argument I am now going to give nothing but extremely long winded and purely anecdotal 'evidence'

[Misanthrope]

3 minutes ago, ThinkWithPortals said:

X is objectively better than Y.

To support my argument I am now going to give nothing but extremely long winded and purely anecdotal 'evidence'

The worst part of people using anecdotal evidence is that they get personally offended if dismissed "You're not gonna tell ME that immigration is not a problem when a *insert racial slur* *insert grievance*" Is usually the response basically getting so upset they shut down all possibilities to argue.

[handymanshandle]

37 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

When it comes to ingredients in our food, the concept that natural is automatically good and artificial is automatically bad. 

I kinda thought that to be true. The only thing that I still kinda use that for is when I'm trying to advocate for Cannabis but I suppose that argument isn't very strong in its favor since a lot of other harder drugs come from natural things too. Though those harder drugs tend to be more heavily processed making them less like their natural state.

So regardless, what you and @Citadelen said is pretty much what I was going to say.

[Colonel_Gerdauf]

This is relevant to some touchy subjects, but the following nonsense of an argument has always annoyed me:

 

- Fear of change: " <X> has happened for so long; therefore, <X> is just fine, and <Y> has no reason to exist "

[Bhav]

Ooh ooh ....

 

'Why don't you cut your hair and be smart'

'No ones gonna hire you with a beard and long hair'.

 

I wonder why I havnt stabbed my parents to death yet.

[Mug]

3 hours ago, Colonel_Gerdauf said:

Fear of change: " <X> has happened for so long; therefore, <X> is just fine, and <Y> has no reason to exist "

As people get older though, they get more conservative and more nostalgic. New things seem foreign and detached so it's understandable to a certain degree, particularly if they're more comfortable with the old ways.

[Misanthrope]

6 minutes ago, Mug said:

As people get older though, they get more conservative and more nostalgic. New things seem foreign and detached so it's understandable to a certain degree, particularly if they're more comfortable with the old ways.

That has imo not much to do with the views and a lot more to do with being contrarian when younger vs being complacent later in life: young people that grow up in a Communist country actually tend to be pretty much Libertarians simply because the status quo there for so long has been Communism and authoritarianism.