pervocracy:

pervocracy:

When someone disagrees with you online and demands you prove your point to their satisfaction by writing a complete and logically sound defense including citations, you can save a lot of time by not doing that.

Bro, I’ve known you for twelve seconds and enjoyed none of them, I’m not taking homework assignments from you.

This got a lot of responses from people pointing out that evidence is a key part of intellectual inquiry, discourse, and debate.  That being able to support your beliefs is a key critical thinking skill.  Which is 100% true.

Except that you don’t actually have to participate in intellectual discourse any time some fucko on the Internet tells you to.

There’s a vast difference between “this is an important thing to be able to do,” and “this is a thing that you must be continuously available to perform in public for any stranger who asks.”