Nothing showed up on my Facebook feed, and no notice of comments as several days passed. Why?
Because my freind deleted the entire exchange: the stupid meme, my response, her bubble’s snotty comments, Ryan’s essay, all of it. Then she blocked my feed from receiving any of her posts.
I’m disappointed and disgusted. That act was cowardly as well as a breach of civil engagement. She might as well have declared, “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind’s made up,” but that would have been better.
When you say something that is factually wrong and the facts proving this are offered to you, there is only one civilized, mature, fair and ethical response. You say, “I guess I was wrong. Thanks for setting me straight.” And you change your position. If you also insulted the individual whose position was shown to be accurate, you also apologize for insulting his character and motives for holding such a view.
I know we have talked about this malady on the Left and among the Trump Deranged before, and that everyone has an anecdote, but this experience was unique to me and has left me shaken. First, the cowardice is palpable. We have seen this with many self-banned Ethics Alarms commenters who can’t support their positions, so they hurl insults and depart. “We must agree to disagree” has never flown here: I typically say, “No, I don’t agree to disagree, because I don’t agree that your assertion has any rational justification.” Our esteemed devotee of all-side-ism, Extradimensional Cephalopod, will doubtless hold that there is still some way to have a productive discussion with people who treat dissenting positions like my friend did, and if EC does, he is wrong. They are the true censors, they are the true fanatics, they are the true totalitarians.
And this appears to be what the nation is up against: an intractable, cowardly, warped mob that no longer is capable of learning, critical thought, engaging, participating in a democracy or winning an argument without lying or cheating.
This is horrible, and I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve been thinking about what clip from the archive best fits here. Cher [“Snap out of it!”]? Geena [“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”]? I might have put up Dana [“WHAT’S HAPPENING?”] but I know what’s happening, or has happened. I even considered the Duke [“…the hell I won’t!”] but a punch in the face isn’t going to help these people.
I finally settled on this clip, which isn’t satisfying, but it has the virtue of being true:
Ethics Alarms 
I tried EC’s engagement techniques with a masked woman outside a very one sided “round table” hosted by April McLain Delaney (D 6th MD) and Governor Moore on the ICE facility proposed to be constructed here in Washington County.
This youngish white woman held her sign saying NO ICE when she walked up After hearing the standard talking points that ICE makes us less safe and that she worried that her black child would be taken by ICE. She then went on about being low income and that the government had a duty to care for the disabled. She made quite a few declarations but could not provide any evidence to back up her claim other than she new two citizens were taken by ICE but when I asked her who they were for me to verify her claims she said she said she could not trust me. on our conversation I asked her why she was masked when she had a problem with masked ICE agents and she said she had a cough and did not want to infect others. When I asked her whether there might be a reason these agents are masked and she said fear of retribution. I asked imany question and when I pointed out several inconsistencies she decided to claim I personalized behaviors to her and it was not her fault. When I said she mis heard me because I was speaking in generalities and never used the word you except to say “I heard you say”. She then claimed I was prejudiced against the hearing disabled which she then claimed to be one. I said that might account for the misunderstanding to which she replied “I heard what you said”,
What I have learned from this encounter is never give an inch because they will use it against you because their mind is made up so you are always wrong. EC’s methods have merit but not with bigoted opinions from people with limited understanding and your position undermines their fundamental needs for safety. Self actualization is an illusion for them and is in reality either unattainable given their limited ability to process information or undesired.
Charles Krauthammer once said that conservatives think that liberals are stupid and liberals believe that conservatives are evil. If you believe that your opponent is stupid, you are willing to engage in debate in order to teach and change minds. If you believe that your opponent is evil than you do not consider your opponent worthy of debate as evil cannot be reasoned with; only resistance and condemnation are in place.
The brain state of many of the Trump deranged resembles that of cult members. Scientology. Heaven’s Gate. Children of God. The Nazis. Hamas. It is a brain disease. People’s self regard and identity is tied up with the cult. It can only be cured by death or true repentance.
I have become convinced that the vast majority of what we would consider ideas, phrases or words which we think we have constructed to communicate some point of understanding or incite are all merely treated by listeners as a multitude of tiny independent shibboleths any of which, upon cursory attention being found objectionable, leads to the objectors guillotine because the only reason you would use that one word out of your other 10k is because you are intrinsically bad.
I want to largely blame this on mental illness due to insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction in the brain. I have yet to meet anyone who consumes a high(65%) saturated fat diet and 0% carbohydrates who is even rude.
Yet, all of the people I know who post to Facebook nonsense similar to what you have described are by nature hyper emotionally expressive and have always only posted content that mirrors their feelings.