[nadagast]

This attitude ignores the other 90+% of people who read your replies: people who aren't actually engaging, just reading and considering. I think the meme of 'debate online is pointless' is wrong because the vast majority of people who read anything you write publicly will be able to read from a position where they could have their mind changed, maybe. Write for those people.

[tamana]

This is explained in Thank You For Smoking, and illustrated every day on C-SPAN

[nadagast]

Interesting, I didn't know that--is it worth watching?