True. But…. It’s complicated. You probably aren’t going to convince someone their deeply held beliefs are wrong just by chatting it out. You also generally can’t use fact and logic to debate emotion or willful ignorance. It is generally even less helpful to debate emotion and ignorance with emotion and ignorance because people will then see you and likely whatever you are advocating as not credible. It becomes a playground fight.
So you can walk away. If you feel very strongly on something, if you are very sensitive or empathic or such that engaging will cause you emotional or psychological stress- it can be best to walk away.
On the other hand- humans just tend naturally to believe what we see. You can repeat a lie enough that it sort of becomes true. So in a vacuum where people spread misinformation or hate or ignorance without any challenges, those things will tend to proliferate even more wildly than they already do.
I suppose there is validity in multiple approaches and it can be circumstantial. It is true that if you go through the trouble to source things and such that people often won’t read it, or they may read it or at least skim it and immediately dismiss the validity of the source or information. They may argue from a position that requires or has no sources such as personal experience or opinion, or observation etc. At the end of the day there are times where we don’t see a value or just don’t feel like dragging up the receipts. They are often out there a mere google search away and if the other party is interested and would sincerely read or consider the evidence they likely would be willing to do some quick research. But… a school teacher might have 100 or more students go through their class in a single year. Not every one will reach their potential or even reach a level of basic success in society or life. In some schools and settings the odds of many even graduating aren’t very good.
But- they teach on. Some get burned out and say “why bother putting in my effort and emotions to a bunch of kids who won’t read this stuff or do this work or learn or engage..” and some will keep trying, minus an off day here or there, for their entire careers. That latter group is the one we have to thank for so many people being able to achieve successes that otherwise wouldn’t have likely been in their futures, and for keeping society afloat. Fighting ignorance is a bit like being in a ship where every 10 seconds you get 50 gallons of water coming in and every 10 seconds you can only scoop 1 gallon out. The more people scoop the longer the boat floats, but every day there seems to be more water coming in.
So you can walk away. If you feel very strongly on something, if you are very sensitive or empathic or such that engaging will cause you emotional or psychological stress- it can be best to walk away.
On the other hand- humans just tend naturally to believe what we see. You can repeat a lie enough that it sort of becomes true. So in a vacuum where people spread misinformation or hate or ignorance without any challenges, those things will tend to proliferate even more wildly than they already do.