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The answer is to stop feeding them. I don't understand why you guys continue to reply, they'll keep talking crap for as long as you keep talking to them.

Rebuttal To Creationists - "Since We Can't Directly Observe Evolution..."This thread has been of no discussion value, or fun, for some time.I'm thinking this thing should be closed. Admin: Request you consider closing this topic.

I second that request.

To hone our arguments, even if it's only honing how to swat a mosquito. No, they always run away eventually.

Not anymore, you've used the same argument hundreds of times - in a single thread - with these nutjobs. Now it's just a sport for you.
​ Maybe they will eventually. But eventually can be a bloody long time with some of these loonies. There's nothing but name calling going on in the threads we're complaining about.

The sport is thinking of new ways to express it hundreds of times.It's the same sport as I'm playing with YOU right now.

Well at least you're enjoying yourself, but I can tell you, it ain't much of a spectator sport.
​ Figures. Anyway, I'm out. Probably.

The little greenn dots disagree with you.

I'm beating you on this page 4 to 2. And your 2 is Phat. Just sayin'Not that I'm counting. Or replying.

A member of our discussion brunch today had a similar objection. She didn't feel that we should be laughing at the Republican clowns getting ready to destroy Congress and our country. I quoted Michael Valentine Smith (a human raised by Martians) from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), when he was finally able to grok laughter (paraphrased): "Laughter is not nice. We never laugh at anything nice happening, but always at something bad. We laugh to keep it from hurting."But the other point to laughing at MAGAts is to expose how ludicrous they are. They are going to speak anyway and to present their ridiculously false claims, so by publicly exposing them we can lessen the damage they do.It's the same as with debating creationists -- refer to my page, Creation / Evolution Debates in which I provide several links to the ongoing discussion of whether to debate creationists:

• Con: Such "debates" are travelling snake-oil shows run by creationists and rigged to ensure creationist "victory." Agreeing to debate is just falling into their trap.
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• Con: Agreeing to debate them just gives them false legitimacy.
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• Con: Well-meaning opponents who don't know what they're getting themselves into often do more damage to science education.
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• Pro: The creationist is going to speak anyway, so if there's nobody to hold him accountable for his lies then the public won't learn that he is indeed lying.
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• Pro: It's a training opportunity just waiting for you to exploit. One professor said that he can barely keep the attention of students in his lectures, but here's an auditorium full of people listening intently on every word he says.

Most of the time that I'm "wasting my time on that willfully stupid creationist", he's not the reason why I am casting pearls before that swine. Rather, I'm writing for the lurkers (formerly called "visitors" on this forum -- the number of non-member visitors used to appear on the "online now" line).They may be fooled by the lies posted by our creationists and trolls unless someone refutes those lies. That is the service that we provide.

Oh come on dwise1, what's happening on a couple of these fora stopped being the rebuttals of bad argument hundreds of posts ago, now it's just bear-baiting and name calling.There's no-one but us here now to see it and there's no greater purpose involved in mocking people who are obviously either ill, stupid or just trolling. When this site was actually active, this behaviour would have been stopped within a few posts, now it continues because that's all we have.

Am I missing some subtlety here?

No. It was not subtle.

Sometimes you guys are as subtle as a Mack Truck!

Respect is earned. Not given freely.