I remember Slavoj Zizek making this point. Imagine being a german in 1920 and having a conversation with your nazi neighbor who invites you over. you go over out of politeness, he starts a conversation about his bs. the second you say, “ok some jews are like that, but not all,” the game is over. everything out of your mouth will further confirm his symbolic world.
there’s a very clear point where language breaks down between people who see the world differently. that point is when anything challenges either one’s symbols.
Man I know we take the piss out of Zizek here a lot but when I hear about stuff he actually says when he’s trying to make a point, he sounds pretty great.
That’s a really good analogy. Kinda pokes holes in the idea of debatebros being able to win anything meaningful by platforming fascists.
It’s almost that a style of rhetoric that emphasizes seriously refuting opposing ideas, even ridiculously wrong ideas, only serves to legitimize those ideas.
