>>372057
>Doesn't the research help refine your position though?
Nope. In some of the talks I've had with baizuo online, they dismiss
ANYTHING that isn't CNN, Vox, or the U.N. as "Lies", "Far Right", or "You're 'reading' it wrong." In some of the best examples of this, I've unironically had people declare that companies raising prices on food is "causing inflation", that it "doesn't matter" and "no one cares" where Corona-chan came from and the Republicans are "wasting people's time" with Congressional hearings on the matter, and that Trump is a Russian puppet trying to destroy the electoral process but Al Gore contesting the 2000 election and Hillary literally handing the Russian diplomat a "Reset Button" for U.S.-Russia relations totally didn't happen and doesn't count. Post almost any article where the media admits that the WHO has changed their positions regarding anything surrounding Corona-chan, or how the media reluctantly admits that the Biden laptop is real, and the source is
immediately dismissed as "Not being reputable". So the end result is that you cannot even use their very own "reliable sources" because they do not operate in reality.
Where these people exist is in a world where the only thing that matters is "Current Thing". In this world, only certain views are allowed to be correct about "Current Thing". And those views are eternal regardless of whatever the past or future may say or reveal. So unlike the Bethesda/Sonic cycle where people are excited, praise the new game, only later admit that it wasn't that good, and ultimately end up hating the game that came out just in time for the announcement of the new one; these people will praise something as eternally good/bad regardless of perspective, hindsight, hype, etc. For these people, what "Is" is fact that serves as an eternal truth, regardless if said truth is contradictory to reality. It cannot be emphasized enough that these people are in a cult and these mindsets have absolutely
NOTHING to do with one's ego and pride.
If it was about ego and pride, all it would take to make baizuo sympathetic to or even humor your side on a matter would be to flatter them a little, given them credit on topics where they are correct, or even just inquire on their perspective. However you attempt to do any one of these bounces off baizuo like they're rubber as they immediately show how hostile they are or how downright clueless they are.