[Ensorceled]

That's odd, what kind of decent conversations are based on fatuous speculation on facts that are a google search away?

I'd much rather have real conversation about politics, whether "The 100" is good TV, social issues, or just about anything really, than an argument about facts that could just be googled.

[nommm-nommm]

It's called having fun!! lighthearted mindless conversation. Joking. Laughing! Using our imaginations.

No arguments.

I'd rather do almost anything else than "talk politics." Especially with people who like "talking politics." Playing in traffic seems much more appealing.

[IanCal]

I agree.

I think there's a big benefit in finding out that you're often wrong. It's easy to look something up and go "yeah I knew that" when really it was just one of the things you thought might be true. Regularly seeing that what you were really, really sure about is actually completely wrong after having to try and justify what you're saying is wrong (e.g. that X was in film Y, etc). Similarly, realising you don't understand something too well when trying to explain it to someone else.

Also, mistakes and weird misconceptions form bits of jokes that grow and change over time.

[Ensorceled]

Ah, I see. I have lots of discussions that are fun, light hearted and meaningless. They just are rarely based on speculation on fundamental facts that could be googled.

There seems to be a lot of reaction to "talking politics". Maybe my perspective is coloured by being Canadian and living where the politics aren't so polarized and gamed?

[dragonwriter]

The interesting part of the conversation are the arguments (not the debate, but the specific chains of reasoning people present to support their belief about the correct answer.)

Also, the tangents that are spawned based both on some.of the specific answers people propose and elements of the arguments for those answers.

[mlangdon]

Yes, some people don't enjoy jokes.

This is well documented.

I'd rather talk about literally nothing than have another political conversation where I am either preaching to the converted or shouting at a stone wall.

[Ensorceled]

Where did you get that I don't enjoy jokes?

Yeah, I'm seeing that mentioning "talking politics" on a mostly American forum immediately labels you as a "debbie downer".

[nommm-nommm]

> Where did you get that I don't enjoy jokes?

You should read this - http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html

excerpt:

"But our engineering strength is also our social weakness. Countless times as engineers you will find yourself interrupting someone telling a story, an anecdote or a joke to correct a false assumption, provide an extra fact that the narrator overlooked, give a bigger perspective on the problem or point out that the joke premise is actually flawed.

You can identify this behavior because the person interrupting usually starts with the phrase "Well, actually...".

As a kid, I thought this was my strength. I knew a little bit more than my sister. So whenever she would say something, I would quickly interject something like "Well, actually, the origin of the word Shih Tzu means Lion Dog and has nothing to do with the dog's digestive patterns".

Yes, I was really fun to hang out with.

Whoever pulls a "well, actually" almost always shifts the conversation to himself. And now we are no longer following along with your friend's joke, we get to learn how much more you know about the limitations of the Sun Protection Factor scale in sunblock products.

Even the most rudimentary of the well-actuallistas is able to spoil even the best Ricky Gervais material.

But instead of rolling with the punches and participating in a brainstorm of ideas and exploding humor, they contribute interruptions, facts and details that merely produce stop energy on an ongoing discussion. They turn the center of attention towards them."

-----

Similar with "talking politics."

When people want to "talk politics" they usually really mean "Let me show you how right I am and how wrong you are if you disagree. Let me show you how smart I am."

Nothing to do with being a "debbie downer."

Now, where is that traffic?

[Ensorceled]

That's a great article! Bookmarking.

But, what does ANY of this have to do with me? I learned to avoid (well, mostly avoid :-) the "well actually" trap almost two decades ago and have spent the intervening twenty years mentoring younger engineers out of that habit.

What I was actually responding to was the idea it was better to "speculate" about who played Snape, or why is the sky blue, or is vim BSD or GPL licensed rather than look it up.

I'd rather have conversations about Alan Rickman portrayal of Snape or what impact the sky being blue has on our emotional reactions to blue or why vim is clearly better than emacs.

Also, Canadians, in general, don't tend to discuss politics in that manner, at least not in mixed company. We have more political parties and our views are more fluid. I have, for example, voted for 4 different political parties in my life time at the federal level alone.

[drjesusphd]

As an American, I find this attitude disturbing as well. It's like there's a cultural repulsion to talking about anything of consequence. And we wonder why US politics is in the state that it's in...