dealing with frustration and anger

[Boran]

Hi,

I was wondering how one goes best to deal with the frustration induced by crazy people (of all kinds).
While Randi has superhuman patience for them and endures their ramblings patiently waiting and refuting every statement they make afterwards. I get this insane urge to shout at my screen "you crazy people, get professional help!". This might be a character defect of me (I'm not very patient) but I was wondering how other people on this forum deal with these frustrations and anger.

I guess replying to them and saying you think they are certified insane is a breach of forum rules.

[Scazon]

It's only the internet. Try to stop feeling you have to compete so hard, remember that some people get their rocks off by winding people up, just relax.

As it has been said, never argue with a fool, for he is doing the same.

[SphereGuy]

The trick is to pick your battles and to try and remember some people have deeply held beliefs and it's their right to have deeply held beliefs and it's not your job to convert anybody. If something bothers you, present the facts, and if they still don't change their mind then move on. Tolerance over arrogance.

[Firefish]

Think of them as a goldmine of entertainment. If everyone were sane, polite and rational, the discussions could rapidly become boring...

[wmadoss]

I think one of Ayn Rands quote is quite suitable.

“Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.”

[Baby Nemesis]

Oh I know what thread you must have been looking at: This one! (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=124232&page=3) Yes, I agree, it's absolutely terrible what insane ramblings and cringe-making illogic has been going on there! :D Why don't they ban people from the forum for stupidity, eh? :D No wonder that one's made you really angry at the utter foolishness of some of the things people say here!

... Just remember the old saying: "He who resorts to abuse proves he has lost the argument ... unless the other one started it".

[Ashles]

Hi,

I was wondering how one goes best to deal with the frustration induced by crazy people (of all kinds).
While Randi has superhuman patience for them and endures their ramblings patiently waiting and refuting every statement they make afterwards. I get this insane urge to shout at my screen "you crazy people, get professional help!". This might be a character defect of me (I'm not very patient) but I was wondering how other people on this forum deal with these frustrations and anger.

I guess replying to them and saying you think they are certified insane is a breach of forum rules.
A good way is to become as logical and polite as possible.
Often a good approach is to concentrate on one specific piece of their nonsense and try to avoid all derails until you have nailed that particular issue.

Not that I personally do that - I let the more level-headed members take that high ground while I have fun.

[schlitt]

Hi Boran,

I started a similar thread to this a while ago. You might want to check some of the responses in that thread too. :)

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=93563

[borealys]

I have a couple of friends, plus my boyfriend, who are willing to listen to me rant about idiots on the internet. It cools me off a bit, when I read something particularly offensive in its stupidity, to turn to someone in real life and say, "You won't believe what this moron on (insert website of your choice) was spouting off about!"

Once I'm sufficiently cooled down, I can decide how to argue in a reasonable tone ... or I can decide not to bother arguing at all.

[Baby Nemesis]

One thing that might work with wacky stuff is developing a curiosity as to why they got to believe what they do, and maybe asking them.

[roger]

I try not to reread my own posts.

[Dancing David]

Hi,

I was wondering how one goes best to deal with the frustration induced by crazy people (of all kinds).
While Randi has superhuman patience for them and endures their ramblings patiently waiting and refuting every statement they make afterwards. I get this insane urge to shout at my screen "you crazy people, get professional help!". This might be a character defect of me (I'm not very patient) but I was wondering how other people on this forum deal with these frustrations and anger.

I guess replying to them and saying you think they are certified insane is a breach of forum rules.


Not all of them are crazy, they just have mistaken beliefs.

The best way is to just say "Well, how did I get here?"



And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful
Wife
And you may ask yourself-well...how did I get here?

Talking Heads

[Autolite]

I was wondering how other people on this forum deal with these frustrations and anger.


Acceptance. It's somewhat of a cop-out but it's what works for me. Years of arguing against woo, theism, stupidity, etc can burn you out so I don't do it anymore (except perhaps for a little bit of self entertainment). I use the rationalization that the hardest thing to convince someone of is the obvious. Someone incapable of recognizing, (or refusing to acknowledge), the obvious is someone who is beyond help. There's no cure for stupidity. Once you've accepted this, it will relieve some of the frustration, (IMHO)...

[snowstorm]

Hi,

I was wondering how one goes best to deal with the frustration induced by crazy people (of all kinds).
While Randi has superhuman patience for them and endures their ramblings patiently waiting and refuting every statement they make afterwards. I get this insane urge to shout at my screen "you crazy people, get professional help!". This might be a character defect of me (I'm not very patient) but I was wondering how other people on this forum deal with these frustrations and anger.

I guess replying to them and saying you think they are certified insane is a breach of forum rules.

beer+marlboro (red) and of course JREF

[Baby Nemesis]

I get this insane urge to shout at my screen "you crazy people, get professional help!".

Hmmm, so who's really the crazy one here? :D

Of course, you could always just not read the threads in any section that's likely to be particularly controversial.

[Modified]

Suffer fools gladly?

[Cuddles]

Of course, you could always just not read the threads in any section that's likely to be particularly controversial.

So basically just don't read any of this site.

Actually, Forum Rules might be safe. Not that they're not controversial, but the section is locked so no-one can actually post there.

Suffer fools gladly?

Gladly make fools suffer.

[Baby Nemesis]

Suffer fools gladly?

No, I never do. That's why I've made at least 152 enemies since I've been here. But Boran must be better at it than he gives himself credit for. I'm still wondering why if he's as bad as he says, he hasn't railed and raved indignantly at the utter stupid illogicality of that thread I linked to. (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=4127048#post4127048)

[ferj]

And as someone else said, "The fool in the mirror is probably you"

[Baby Nemesis]

Of course, it's allright for people like me who never look in mirrors. Not looking in mirrors proves we can't possibly be fools. ;)

I was tempted to suggest to Boran that his own posts might come across as foolish to others, especially if he doesn't put forward reasoned argument but instead just condemns what some people say as stupid.

Why hasn't even the most intelligent mind on this forum gone to that thread I linked to and condemned it as the height of irrational woo? :D People here don't usually seem to have a problem speaking out against and mocking people who don't seem as clued up as them. Oh go on, people! It won't be hard to find the woo - it's evident from the very first post on the page!

[Beth]

Hi,

I was wondering how one goes best to deal with the frustration induced by crazy people (of all kinds).
While Randi has superhuman patience for them and endures their ramblings patiently waiting and refuting every statement they make afterwards. I get this insane urge to shout at my screen "you crazy people, get professional help!". This might be a character defect of me (I'm not very patient) but I was wondering how other people on this forum deal with these frustrations and anger.

I guess replying to them and saying you think they are certified insane is a breach of forum rules.

Yelling at your screen is perfectly okay and a fine way to deal with your frustration in the privacy of your home. If you do it at work or on a public computer, you may find yourself the target of someone saying "You crazy person. Get professional help!" ;)

[Baby Nemesis]

This is one reason (http://www.globalpulsejournal.com/2006_chamberlin_rob_an_unexplained_death_in_haiti. html) people shouldn't be too quick to dismiss people with "woo" beliefs as crazy, just for expressing them. When you don't know how they got to have those beliefs, you don't know whether they got them for reasons that would have seemed just as valid to you if you were them.

From the article linked to:

My best friend in Haiti, Bòs, died two weeks ago. He was the one that I ate meals with for two years while I served in Haiti as a Peace Corps volunteer. He was the one who welcomed me into his house as a family member. He was the one who showed me around the village and who sat underneath the big neem tree with me as the sun set over the fields of millet on the other side of the 10-foot wide Route Nationale # 2. And two weeks ago, he died at the age of 47.

His son told me that he died of something 'unexplainable', something caused by a 'voodoo curse'. Yet, I believe that he died because of something that is indeed very explainable and much more scary than a voodoo curse- I believe he died because of poverty and the lack of access to adequate healthcare.

Haiti is the 'poorest country in the Western Hemisphere'. This is a tagline that accompanies almost all news of Haiti. And the healthcare indices support this association. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Haiti has an infant mortality rate of 120 per 1,000 live births and a life expectancy of 53 years. ...

For so many Haitians, the struggle is not only with a lack of treatment options, but also with a lack of diagnostic capabilities. Many, like my best friend Bòs, die without ever knowing what kills them. They do not even have the opportunity to know that there may be a drug that, although too expensive for them to buy, could save their life.

Of course, although left 'unexplained', there is always a reason given for the death - 'the wind was changing', 'God decided it was time for them to die', or 'someone had laid a voodoo curse upon the victim'. This last explanation, a voodoo curse, is often the hardest one for the family to deal with. For, in the case of Bòs, his son now has to deal with trying to understand who cursed his father and why. As he explained to me on the phone last week, his aunt may have arranged the curse because she has had such an inimical relationship with Bòs's wife. Or, he said, it could have been one of Bos's coworkers who was jealous for some reason. And now the son must also wonder if he too is in danger. ...

[JohnG]

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them"












Baruch Spinoza!