Conversations with genuinely stupid people

[mitchell271]

Recently I was perusing the IGN site and decided to read the most recent review of The Big Bang Theory. I was wondering if the show had moved away from the nerd-bashing (it hasn't) and decided to read through the comments. Often, the community there is nice and the trolls are so amazingly obvious that you might as well not even bother. But then I found this comment...

TexasTiki
im sorry but that cannot be a spoiler, amc has re-aired those episodes many times since the hiatus, hell the do encores afterwards and the following week before the new episode airs. the whole i don't have cable argument is B.S., if you don't have one friend or family member that can dvr it for you than you deserve spoilers.

It infuriated me so much I had to respond due to the lack of basic respect to others without much money. Things got a little out of hand...

Spoiler: Here is the whole thing so far

mitchell271
Wow. How incredibly arrogant of you. "You don't have the same kind of money I have? Then you don't have the right to enjoy this to the same extent I do." Do you see how stupid that sounds?

TexasTiki
yeah quotes only work if i actually wrote that. dumbass. and who said anything about money, there are many ways as i stated above, go to a friends(you obviously don't have friends). Ask your parents to record it for you, watch it through amazon( $2 a pop you broke hippie), if you own an xbox or playstation; buy episodes of the current season. Also wait until your off the rag before commenting.

mitchell271
Try using proper grammar before insulting someone first. Even if you're terrible with grammar (which would make sense as you probably haven't finished high school because of parents reference), you can download an extension which fixes grammar called Grammarly.

Firstly, I'm not quoting you, I'm paraphrasing your words and placing them into my comment in a spoken fashion, as if they were being spoken by you.

I agree, you can ask a favour from someone else to borrow DVDs or recording of the show to watch. About the Amazon thing, Amazon only lets you download stuff in the US, nowhere else. Even Netflix (which has The Walking Dead) here in Canada doesn't have everything the American version has.

Finally, here's a situation you didn't think of. What if I've been planning to watch the show, but haven't started yet because of other shows, games or, hell, even just time constraints (i. e. having a job to pay rent because I'm in university and I can't expect my parents to pay for everything)?

TexasTiki
Haha, you live in Canada! what a jackass! you gonna ***** about everything now, eh? Guess what i also going to school too, but i am conversing with you in a public forum which means i really don't give a shit if you don't like my lack of proper grammar. Quit bitching about being poor and not having every, you think just because the American economy is in the crapper that gives me the perfect excuse not to have a good job or decent education. F*** you, i got off my ass and did something about it without asking the government or my parents for a handout. If you don't like spoilers watch the effing show that went on hiatus over 2 months ago.

mitchell271
Wait, I'm a "jackass" because of my nationality? Being Canadian has nothing to do with my demeanor, nor does it have anything to do with my personal economic status. I work to pay my rent, to buy food and to go to school.

I'm not "bitching about being poor". I simply stated I live on student wages along with some money I get from investing in the stock market. And I'm not getting a dime from the government for my school. I still have some room for expenses, I just prefer to spend them on something other than a TV show, which, like you said, I can get from a friend.

Digging deeper into your clumsily fastened-together rebuttal, I noticed that you believe that I "think... the American economy is poor" and that "it gives [you] an excuse to not have a decent job or education." The American economy is poor in comparison to how it used to be and it does give an excuse to some people for why they wouldn't be able to afford going to university. Those people wouldn't be able to get to the same level of education. I'm all for equal rights, but reality is a harsh mistress.

Oh yeah, and if you don't care about what you say in public/online, the word is "Fuck", not F***.

Some people really are dumb (if he genuinely believes what he's saying).
Have you ever had something like this happen?

 

[Goofguy]

No because I don't bait or feed the trolls. I get where you were coming from but you have to realize that you were arguing with a brick wall. This is the Internet, what did you think would happen after your first reply?

 

[Lilani]

If you're expecting coherent or reasonable arguments from random people on the Internet, then I'm afraid you are in the wrong universe. These aren't even "stupid people" you are talking about, these are trolls. They are a totally different breed of stupid people.

 

[Rawne1980]

This is the Internet, what did you think would happen after your first reply?

The other guy would see his point of view, agree to disagree, make up and live happily ever after?

Ahhh, the internets true to life bromance stories.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Luckily enough, I don't talk to absolute eejits in my daily life, so conversations like yours don't happen to me.
Same thing on the Internet; I don't read the comments on review sites for fear of my neurons disintegrating, and I only post if I genuinely feel I can contribute and/or argue a point well.
I've avoided most utter fools that way.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Your first mistake: expecting reasonable discussion on forums.

Your second mistake: expecting the above from IGN.

 

[Goofguy]

This is the Internet, what did you think would happen after your first reply?

The other guy would see his point of view, agree to disagree, make up and live happily ever after?

Ahhh, the internets true to life bromance stories.

"Hmmm, you have a valid point and I wholeheartedly respect it. Nonetheless I must disagree with you, if that's alright. In the interest of avoiding an inflamed exchange, let's cease this discussion immediately and meet up for a friendly pint at the local pub"

Said no Internet troll ever.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Some people really are dumb (if he genuinely believes what he's saying).
Have you ever had something like this happen?

Holding views like that doesn't make a person stupid. Intelligent (or at least reasonably intelligent) people often hold views that seem very strange. It's a classic and often dangerous mistake to assume that anyone who disagrees with you must be stupid.

Now, wrong, certainly, arrogant and wilfully ignorant, fair enough. Not the same thing though.

 

[Lieju]

But in my opinion, YouTube comments are the worst place for this for sure.

Yes, partly because you can't write long comments. I have had some really dumb conversation is Youtube, that were so stupid because you had to try to make your argument fit in the 500 characters or so, which led to inaccuracies and misunderstandings.

 

[wooty]

One guy in work was talking to us about this Lynx deodorant "send a man into space" competition and whether we would go.
One of the blokes I work with, the aptly named "mongy Mark" said that he would happilly go into space for £100. We asked him questions like, would you go into space in a submarine, would you play ping pong in zero gravity ect.

One guy asked Mark "would you be willing to go up into space in a dust bin for £1000?", to which Mongy replied "A dustbin? Yeah I would, as long as someone put some airholes in it for me".

I wish I was joking and that he was joking, but he was deadly serious. I even gave up the rest of my break and went back to work 15 minutes early.

 

[Coffeejack]

One guy in work was talking to us about this Lynx deodorant "send a man into space" competition and whether we would go.
One of the blokes I work with, the aptly named "mongy Mark" said that he would happilly go into space for £100. We asked him questions like, would you go into space in a submarine, would you play ping pong in zero gravity ect.

One guy asked Mark "would you be willing to go up into space in a dust bin for £1000?", to which Mongy replied "A dustbin? Yeah I would, as long as someone put some airholes in it for me".

I wish I was joking and that he was joking, but he was deadly serious. I even gave up the rest of my break and went back to work 15 minutes early.

Was his last name Pilkington?

 

[Oly J]

Recently I was perusing the IGN site and decided to read the most recent review of The Big Bang Theory. I was wondering if the show had moved away from the nerd-bashing (it hasn't) and decided to read through the comments. Often, the community there is nice and the trolls are so amazingly obvious that you might as well not even bother. But then I found this comment...

TexasTiki
im sorry but that cannot be a spoiler, amc has re-aired those episodes many times since the hiatus, hell the do encores afterwards and the following week before the new episode airs. the whole i don't have cable argument is B.S., if you don't have one friend or family member that can dvr it for you than you deserve spoilers.

It infuriated me so much I had to respond due to the lack of basic respect to others without much money. Things got a little out of hand...

Spoiler: Here is the whole thing so far

mitchell271
Wow. How incredibly arrogant of you. "You don't have the same kind of money I have? Then you don't have the right to enjoy this to the same extent I do." Do you see how stupid that sounds?

TexasTiki
yeah quotes only work if i actually wrote that. dumbass. and who said anything about money, there are many ways as i stated above, go to a friends(you obviously don't have friends). Ask your parents to record it for you, watch it through amazon( $2 a pop you broke hippie), if you own an xbox or playstation; buy episodes of the current season. Also wait until your off the rag before commenting.

mitchell271
Try using proper grammar before insulting someone first. Even if you're terrible with grammar (which would make sense as you probably haven't finished high school because of parents reference), you can download an extension which fixes grammar called Grammarly.

Firstly, I'm not quoting you, I'm paraphrasing your words and placing them into my comment in a spoken fashion, as if they were being spoken by you.

I agree, you can ask a favour from someone else to borrow DVDs or recording of the show to watch. About the Amazon thing, Amazon only lets you download stuff in the US, nowhere else. Even Netflix (which has The Walking Dead) here in Canada doesn't have everything the American version has.

Finally, here's a situation you didn't think of. What if I've been planning to watch the show, but haven't started yet because of other shows, games or, hell, even just time constraints (i. e. having a job to pay rent because I'm in university and I can't expect my parents to pay for everything)?

TexasTiki
Haha, you live in Canada! what a jackass! you gonna ***** about everything now, eh? Guess what i also going to school too, but i am conversing with you in a public forum which means i really don't give a shit if you don't like my lack of proper grammar. Quit bitching about being poor and not having every, you think just because the American economy is in the crapper that gives me the perfect excuse not to have a good job or decent education. F*** you, i got off my ass and did something about it without asking the government or my parents for a handout. If you don't like spoilers watch the effing show that went on hiatus over 2 months ago.

mitchell271
Wait, I'm a "jackass" because of my nationality? Being Canadian has nothing to do with my demeanor, nor does it have anything to do with my personal economic status. I work to pay my rent, to buy food and to go to school.

I'm not "bitching about being poor". I simply stated I live on student wages along with some money I get from investing in the stock market. And I'm not getting a dime from the government for my school. I still have some room for expenses, I just prefer to spend them on something other than a TV show, which, like you said, I can get from a friend.

Digging deeper into your clumsily fastened-together rebuttal, I noticed that you believe that I "think... the American economy is poor" and that "it gives [you] an excuse to not have a decent job or education." The American economy is poor in comparison to how it used to be and it does give an excuse to some people for why they wouldn't be able to afford going to university. Those people wouldn't be able to get to the same level of education. I'm all for equal rights, but reality is a harsh mistress.

Oh yeah, and if you don't care about what you say in public/online, the word is "Fuck", not F***.

Some people really are dumb (if he genuinely believes what he's saying).
Have you ever had something like this happen?

this conversation has REALLY made me appreciate just how reasonable the good people on The Escapist are (on the whole...in my experience anyway)

 

[wooty]

One guy in work was talking to us about this Lynx deodorant "send a man into space" competition and whether we would go.
One of the blokes I work with, the aptly named "mongy Mark" said that he would happilly go into space for £100. We asked him questions like, would you go into space in a submarine, would you play ping pong in zero gravity ect.

One guy asked Mark "would you be willing to go up into space in a dust bin for £1000?", to which Mongy replied "A dustbin? Yeah I would, as long as someone put some airholes in it for me".

I wish I was joking and that he was joking, but he was deadly serious. I even gave up the rest of my break and went back to work 15 minutes early.

Was his last name Pilkington?

I'm afraid not, I'm not going to say his last name on here just incase he visits it. Or even knows how to turn a computer on.

 

[Cry Wolf]

Some people really are dumb (if he genuinely believes what he's saying).
Have you ever had something like this happen?

I have this happen incredibly often (and of late, they've been happening on the Escapist quite a bit). I find such arguments quite enjoyable for a little while, so I'll engage in them. After a few posts I find myself no longer enjoying the endeavour, which is always entirely futile, and I leave. I find this .gif particularly handy when it comes time to remove myself from a discussion:

As for the grammar issue; I tend to ignore it unless it actually impedes me comprehending their post. Mine is hardly perfect, I don?t proofread or spell check the vast majority of my posts ? including this one (and even then, my mastery of the English is only functional seeing as I never even completed high school). That said I do find inexplicably poor grammar and spelling annoying but never to the point where I feel it necessary to shift the focus of my message to it.

 

[Random berk]

I'm truly sorry to have missed this conversation, but apparently while a colleague of mine was working up the country, a couple of American tourists came to him and said:

Americans: Excuse me, are you a geologist?

Colleague: I am, yeah.

American 1: Do you know how old the rocks in this area are?

Colleague: Well, this area is mostly Upper Carboniferous limestone, so it's about 300-310 million years old.

American 2: Oh, and is that B.C. or A.D.?

Colleague: ...

I think he remained fairly polite and said that it was B.C. I would have proceeded to completely take the piss out of them.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Youtube. I've only ever watched one PewDiePie video in my life. One. And on that one video I commented that it was all immature jokes and gimmicky-bullshit-o-vision, now you must remember I didn't know he was worshiped as a God and for 2 months, months, I was being harassed by people wishing death upon me for being a "gay virgin troll". I ended up responding to one reply that was someone thinking they were being smart saying
Some prick - "I know freedom of speech gives you the right to troll, troll, but what makes you think you should give your opinion or that people will care???"
Me - "I didn't really think people would care, but considering people keep telling me they don't like my opinion, then they are caring too much about my opinion on some screechy guy."
Some Prick - "Why would you respond? Stop trolling."
Me - "You asked me a question."

 

[xmbts]

Happens every time I browse the forums, it's truly mind numbing how some people can completely fail to even attempt to understand anyone outside of themselves.

 

[Lieju]

But in my opinion, YouTube comments are the worst place for this for sure.

Yes, partly because you can't write long comments. I have had some really dumb conversation is Youtube, that were so stupid because you had to try to make your argument fit in the 500 characters or so, which led to inaccuracies and misunderstandings.

No, not really...

YouTube comments are just unmoderated crap.

Yes, but a big reason is that it's just not formatted for real discussions. So people who'd have actual discussion just don't bother posting there.