So what is achieved here? Neither side is ever going to change their opinion.
With your bleak and defeatist attitude that may be true for you. I don't think that is true at all for most people. Through persuasive debate, I have changed or modified certain views. Change, much like nature, is not an overnight process in general. Or it could be likened to something like mercury poisoning, as it is cumulative and builds over time. Each debate could be laying one brick at a time in the foundation of someone's belief system.
While one side may think they aren't getting any where in the debate, a chink in the armor may have been made. Of course no one would openly admit that during the debate, but if you want to make an impact there is always opportunity for one to be made.
Are there some out there so prideful that they would never relent or concede defeat? Yes, but fuck 'em.
There is also another important reason why debate on an internet forum is more valuable than what can be immediately seen. While you are engaged in a debate with one specific person, there are many lurkers all the time.
Even now as I look in the upper right hand corner of my screen, I see that we have 76 visitors. That is 76 people potentially watching the debate. They may be torn between two competing ideologies on a certain subject, and while you may not be aware of the impact you made, you could potentially sway them in your direction.
You could be mentoring without even realizing it.
Edited by Hyroglyphx, : No reason given.
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." --John Adams