It occurred to me as I was livestreaming yesterday that most people who beg you to debate them, or their chosen hero, online are people advocating for issues, cultures, or politics that will never exist in reality. The reason they want to debate may be threefold (although I’m sure there are probably more than three reasons).

The first is that they’re trying to attract as many people as possible to their ludicrous position so they don’t feel alone in their insanity. People who adopt positions that exist outside the realm of reality know deep down that they’re crackpots, but if they can just get a few more gullible people to follow them, they can cover themselves in a cloak of popularity that hides their lunacy.

The second reason is that the majority of the arguments for their position are so far outside the realm of sanity that the people who choose to engage with these dalcops end up frustrated and potentially walking away, which, to the psychopath and their fellow nut jobs, means they’ve won the debate and, in their minds, gives credence to their certifiable position. “Oh, you don’t agree that if we just destroy Christianity, we can live in paradise? Hah, I win!” “You mean to tell me you believe anarchy means chaos when it literally means ‘without rulers?’ Sorry, pal, you’ve lost this one.” Facts and logic have no effect on them. It is a game of “Gotcha!” They’re all mad as hatters.

The third reason is that they know that, whether consciously (would this be the only proper use of the term grifter?) or not, their position will never be adopted. They need people to debate them because that’s all they’ll ever be able to do—debate the theory of a proposition, no matter how cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs it is. The attention they get keeps them going. If people were to just ignore them, they would go away. Of course, I fail here sometimes as well. Does engaging with insane people somehow make me feel saner?

Further proof of these nut jobs’ insanity is their reaction when you tell them you are not going to waste your time debating them. Their response is always that you’re “scared.” Why would I be scared to be wrong in a position? I’ve admitted to being wrong over and over again. There are much more productive ways for me to use my time than listening to you tell me why if X is actually Y and dogs are actually cats, we could live in a world of peace and harmony based on “pricing” and “sound money.” I’m not interested in that, even if it were achievable. It actually sounds like hell with air conditioning. No thank you; I’m happy over here, living in reality while you celebrate my being too “scared” to debate you. Honestly, as soon as I hit send on this, I’ll forget you exist until I encounter your lunacy in the wilds of social media.