I’ll be honest, if someone was doing that to me, and I figured it out - eventually the contradiction will get teased out as you dig into what they’re saying - I would call it “bullshit”.
If someone is going to compromise their statements as an attempt to manipulate my state of mind into agreeing with them, then they’ve shown complete contempt for my ability to understand them by sabotaging my ability to even know what they’re saying, and I’d pretty quickly write off any more efforts to understand them. Maybe they’ve got something worth understanding, but if that’s true then presumably someone else more capable and willing to speak their own mind can explain. The first person has proven themselves an unreliable source on anything.
Here’s a question for anyone that does this: if you feel the need to lie about your position to make it sound reasonable, what does that say about your position? Maybe it’s not actually reasonable? Maybe if you don’t believe you can defend your position on its own merits, you don’t even really understand it yourself?
This. It’s how a lot of bad faith arguments go. Like someone clearly anti-abortion claiming to be “pro-choice” to ingratiate themselves with a group. Then trying to flip the script with bullshit like “I think the woman should choose to not have sex. That’s when the choice is made. Not when it’s time for the consequences of a previous choice.”
I’ll be honest, if someone was doing that to me, and I figured it out - eventually the contradiction will get teased out as you dig into what they’re saying - I would call it “bullshit”.
If someone is going to compromise their statements as an attempt to manipulate my state of mind into agreeing with them, then they’ve shown complete contempt for my ability to understand them by sabotaging my ability to even know what they’re saying, and I’d pretty quickly write off any more efforts to understand them. Maybe they’ve got something worth understanding, but if that’s true then presumably someone else more capable and willing to speak their own mind can explain. The first person has proven themselves an unreliable source on anything.
Here’s a question for anyone that does this: if you feel the need to lie about your position to make it sound reasonable, what does that say about your position? Maybe it’s not actually reasonable? Maybe if you don’t believe you can defend your position on its own merits, you don’t even really understand it yourself?
Yeah I agree it’s insulting.
I really don’t care about the insult, I care about whether the person I’m talking to is wasting my time.
This. It’s how a lot of bad faith arguments go. Like someone clearly anti-abortion claiming to be “pro-choice” to ingratiate themselves with a group. Then trying to flip the script with bullshit like “I think the woman should choose to not have sex. That’s when the choice is made. Not when it’s time for the consequences of a previous choice.”