"It's not my job to educate you" - asymmetries in accessibility

[rong]

I almost posted "honest question:  what is sea-lioning?"

But then I thought, maybe I should re-read and see if I see an explanation.  And I found a handy link.  Now I'm not sure if and how funny it would've been for me to continue as planned and post "honest question:  what is sea lioning?" Which no longer would've been an honest question.  These are the things I wrestle with.

Although I think a lot of miscommunication occurs due to misconstrued motives.

[LMNO]

The fact I literally posted a link to the definition in my first response would have either made it funnier, if it turned out to be funny in the first place.

I guess we'll never know.

[Doktor Howl]

Although I think a lot of miscommunication occurs due to misconstrued motives.

You have in the past made your motives perfectly clear.

[rong]

The fact I literally posted a link to the definition in my first response would have either made it funnier, if it turned out to be funny in the first place.

I guess we'll never know.

I know right?  Such a dillemma

[rong]

Although I think a lot of miscommunication occurs due to misconstrued motives.

You have in the past made your motives perfectly clear.

This sounds very much like a conclusion

[Doktor Howl]

Although I think a lot of miscommunication occurs due to misconstrued motives.

You have in the past made your motives perfectly clear.

This sounds very much like a conclusion

Not an unreasonable one, given your history here.

[minuspace]

I wouldn't dismiss the bad faith "just asking questions" sea-lioning so easily.

That's precisely the reason this behavior occurs so much, especially in marginalized spaces, and it's not just because of trolling.  Think about it like when some new kid shows up on PD and starts in with Reality Tunnel 101, or wants to talk about quantum ESP.  While it may be new to them, I really don't want to go through the fundamentals of the Standard Model and decoherence yet again; I want to talk about the next thing, whatever that is.  Combine that with the ubiquitous presence of sea lions, and it's really difficult to muster the energy to respond other than dismissively.

There will occasionally be someone who sounds generally curious about the basics, and I'll do my best to explain stuff, but if I get even a whiff of willful ignorance, it's over.

Yoink (that is the sound of me starting to understand how a meme works, I think)

[The Wizard Joseph]

I wouldn't dismiss the bad faith "just asking questions" sea-lioning so easily.

That's precisely the reason this behavior occurs so much, especially in marginalized spaces, and it's not just because of trolling.  Think about it like when some new kid shows up on PD and starts in with Reality Tunnel 101, or wants to talk about quantum ESP.  While it may be new to them, I really don't want to go through the fundamentals of the Standard Model and decoherence yet again; I want to talk about the next thing, whatever that is.  Combine that with the ubiquitous presence of sea lions, and it's really difficult to muster the energy to respond other than dismissively.

There will occasionally be someone who sounds generally curious about the basics, and I'll do my best to explain stuff, but if I get even a whiff of willful ignorance, it's over.

Yoink (that is the sound of me starting to understand how a meme works, I think)

Yoinksec could always use more recruits. Here's a badge if you want it. Everything after that is your show. We don't coordinate on purpose.

[methbong]

God dont you hate it when youre talking shit about someone and they have the nerve to defend themselves? What kind of fucking asshole would do something like that.

As a sweeping generalisation, based on observation. The right tend toward, the exact, over simplistic interpretations that uneducated people crave. "The simple truth". Much more compelling and easy to swallow than a whole bunch of complex and nuanced shit that takes decades to fully understand. The left on the other hand, are generally supercilious twats who look down their noses at anyone with the audacity to espouse a point of view that has a rational counterargument.

Spending decades of your life meditating with manbunn "male feminist' sexual predators in a panera bread on a mountaintop so you can understand sentences like:

"Bratz: Girls Rock(2008) for the GBA makes promising inroads for asexual representation but unfortunately continues the series history of erasing the nonbinary."

[methbong]

"You might think my complete inability to defend my wordlview against critical questions makes me a 'dumbass' or a 'dipshit'. But you greatly underestimate the EMOTIONAL LABOR of talking to people who disagree with me."

And yet, somehow, as the comic in the OP points out, the forces of evil seem to never feel the intense toll of this emotional labor. Maybe, just maybe, when you have a coherent belief system explaining yourself isnt "labor". Its when you have to keep a million plates of bullshit spinning at once that answering simple straightforward questions about what you believe("sea lioning") is so exhausting.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

the forces of evil never feel the toll of emotional labor because their side of things is incredibly easy compared to the person answering. A lot of the time sealioning comes with a lot of dismissal and willful ignorance baked in. You give the straightforward answer, they act like they've never heard of systemic racism or misogyny or question its very existence, and demand you explain it from scratch. So now, YOU have to improvise a PolySci lecture within the context of a FB post, while he sits back and waits to call all your sources fake news. The leftist has the burden of being right, the fascist has no such burden, and just has to keep playing dumb in order to completely derail the convo, and soon enough he has a neat little screenshot of the exchange to show all his Nazi friends and any potential recruits he might find as evidence of how incoherent, emotional, and RUDE The Left is. And after a while you realize that you've essentially become one of the dipshits determined to argue with the guy who has made up his mind that sharks are smooth, and stop feeding into it. Which is pretty much where were at.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

For anyone not getting the shark reference:
Sharks are smooth as hell https://imgur.com/gallery/ad3je

[Fujikoma]

This thread is actually quite insightful. Thanks, a number of things make more sense now, also I had no idea what "sealioning" was until today.