Nothing can wrap up an argument like a lack of knowledge. If you find yourself in a situation where the discussion is getting out of hand, it's easier to just admit you don't know much about the subject and ask for the other person to fill you in. Or, you can plow ahead like a thick headed bull like in the stories below.
Reddit user, u/Gourd_Gamer, wanted to know the no-win situations when they asked:
Self-Defeating Argument
Coworker would constantly preach against GMOs, parabens, only use oils when sick, etc. She told me I was going to get cancer from my deodorant, and the corn I bought was 'mutant'.
Then she'd go outside and smoke 3 cigarettes every two hours.
Lizzie McGuire's Cartoon Self Is A Totally Reliable Source
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An old roommate of mine was trying to say we were blackmailing her when we were asking her to take out her trash, etc. She said "Watch the Lizzie McGuire Movie; there's blackmail in there and it's obvious that's what you're doing to me."
I believe it goes without saying that she never clean up after herself nor did she understand that movie....
Just Walk Away
My cousins are flat earthers.
When lack of evidence is just proof of a conspiracy, it's best to just disengage. You can't break into that prison - they have to break out.
Someone who is dating my roommate considers herself to be environmentally conscious. She claimed that napkins were bad for the environment and they increase one's carbon footprint. She ranted about it to me in my own home, even though I don't even buy napkins.
Maybe a week or so later, she noticed I use a re-usable coffee filter and berated me for not using disposable paper filters. I told her that using a re-usable filter cuts down on the amount of waste that we produce when brewing coffee -- so, not only do I not contribute to filling up landfills with paper filters, but I also save money from not buying them in the first place and just cleaning the plastic one.
She told me that since paper filters are biodegradable, there is no reason for me to refrain from using them.
But napkins are made of paper.
Napkins. Are made. Of paper.
She literally just wanted stand on a soap box and hear herself talk. She derives pleasure from telling others that they are wrong, regardless of whether or not they are actually wrong. There is no winning an argument with her.
You Know You Need To Work, Right?
We had a new assistant at work who was not fitting in with the team. I sat her down and talked to her about expectations and reviewed the responsibilities of the position several times. In one last effort to help her, I thought I'd see which parts of the job she liked. I asked her, "What skill do you think is your strongest skill?" And she said, "Delegating."
Not Knowledgeable About How Bodies Work
After asking them to go home because they were quite clearly sick with a cold, being told "don't be stupid, there's no such thing as colds, it's just allergies to the cold weather."
He Was Called "The Master Of Horror" Forever
He had an aversion to Stephen King. Thought Stephen King only wrote gory trash with no redeeming value. That everyone who read Stephen King had mental issues.
And his favourite movie was The Shawshank Redemption.
Even after I showed the credits both on IMBD and Wikipedia he refused to believe that that degenerate Stephen King was in any way, shape or form involved with his dearly beloved film.
When You Can't Believe Video Evidence...
One of my brother in laws said he liked Jay Z and put on Nothing but a G thang by Snoop dog and Dr. Dre. When I told him it was Dr.Dre and not Jay Z he called me a liar and that I was too young to know.
Showed him the youtube video and googled it.
To this day he still says it was Jay Z
Just Two?
A grandma, who spent her career cleaning hospitals, insisted that a woman only had two holes down there. I explained that there would be three (anus, urethra and vagina) cause how would a woman pee with a tampon in?
She claimed the would have to take it off. Finally called the hospital spoke to an ER doctor who was kind enough to quell the matter while on speaker phone. After her hung up she wasn't very convinced.
This Is Medically Proven!
I was just in the hospital for a small operation and my roommate is the stupidest person I have ever met.
You are supposed to be sober for an operation. He comes in late and drank some coffee and water in the morning. I then said he endangers himself because his stomach is supposed to be empty in case he has to throw up. He then said:
"If I drink a coffee now my stomach will be empty"
In the end I convinced him that this is not the case and made him talk to the doctors. He ended up being operated on in the afternoon.
*ultimate face-palm
From a friend in college, who when confronted with evidence that he was wrong stated:
"Don't cloud the issue with trivial facts."
Not To Be Political...BUT....
I'm not going to go "political soap box" here, but just about every die-hard Trump supporters hits this moment. I have several conservative friends, so it's not like I can't get along with people that hold different views, but when you see and hear people spew hate dialect that isn't based anywhere in reality, you kinda want to ask where they heard this or tell them the truth. Any Alt-Right talking point is a good jump off area, haha!
One woman, completely unprompted, started complaining about illegal Mexicans having more rights than US citizens, and when I tried to push for her sources, she said she just "knows people", and that we need that wall ASAP! Then came the magic sentence starter of "Well, I'm not racist, BUT....", and it confirmed she was a bigoted idiot. Anything more than a smile and a nod would lead to me being dragged down to her level, and being beaten with her expertise of being a PoS.
"I'm A Genius..."
I had a coworker within their first couple days ask me to hold up a monitor while they screwed it in with thumb screws. I said "here, let me show you how to do it by yourself. "
Their reply was: "No, No, I have done this ten thousand times. I am a genius, just hold it." If they said anything after that I wasn't listening anymore. I was actually in shock a little bit.
Change Is Constant
I was arguing with my cousin about evolution.
He said "how can an animal just change?" He still wouldn't believe me even when I i told him that there were skeletons of these animals before evolution and his response was "They're probably different animals."
The Duds Keep On Coming
I work in indoor hydroponic agriculture, one of the guys I used to work with believed that removing leaves helped the fruit grow bigger. He went ahead and stripped entire room. When confronted, he proceeded to voice that it diverted nutrients to the fruit... I looked at him like what the f-ck?
Did you miss out on 5th grade science class? Leaves are solar panels and nutrient storage, only time you defo a plant is when the canopy becomes too dense and light doesn't fully penetrate the canopy.
He now works at another facility, he also came out with this gem. "The Earth has to be flat because we perceive everything as curved because our eyes are round." That was my favorite.
We Need To Teach What "Objective" Means
People who say stuff like "ok, that's your opinion, but I have my own" when discussing about objective facts, like science issues, meaning of words...
Edit: A lot of people seem confused with my wording. I'm adding a couple of examples of what I mean:
Science: "Water boils at 70°C, that's my opinion"
Words: "In my opinion, the Spanish word 'hola' means 'dog'"
So basically, facts which are either true or false and not open to opinions.
It...Uh...Doesn't...Huh?
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When I was arguing with someone about why milk doesn't go in first when making a cup of tea (a very English debate) and his argument was "when you add boiling water to cold milk, you're warming it up, but when you add cold milk to boiling water, you're cooling it down, and I don't want cold tea".
I tried to explain how the end temperature will be exactly the same regardless but he was already celebrating his self-awarded victory.
Right....Dummy.
A co-worker went on a rant about how all teachers are lazy and only work from 8-3 while taking loads of holiday time while doing minimal work. I come from a family of teachers, so I could see the time put in at home, the lost weekends, the days of doing work till 7pm, the last two weeks of every summer holiday spent in school prepping the classroom for the next year, buying materials out of their own pocket because the school budget wouldn't cover it...
My co-workers responser?
"Well, I'm a parent so I know more about it than you do."
I nearly flipped my lid.