Why do we debate politics? Rest in the details...

I try not, especially here, since it is akin to banging your head against a wall. But that’s just me, speaking for myself – I guess some people enjoy it.

I kinda agree @janbb both sides are convinced their side is the only one, and they other is pure evil.
Even when it’s clear as day they did something disgusting ,they just spin and deflect well your side did this or that type thing.
But I get caught up in it as well, and in the end nothing was accomplished.

^^Pot calls the kettle black.

Never go into debating politics with the hope you will convince the other side. You will not.
Debates by their very nature are adversarial, the goal being to “win”. The near inevitable result is that participants become defensive and entrenched in their positions.
Best you can hope for is for the audience to be resonant with your points.

I don’t debate politics with everyone I talk to nor not everyone who brings up the topic of politics. Depends on the situation and what they are saying.

We do it for several reason. I think one is anxiety. Another is anger.

Also, because politics is constantly in our face if you watch, read, or listen to any type of news. That puts it top of kind, and it doesn’t take much to trigger us since politics has become very emotional.

Lastly, yes, sometimes we hope to persuade someone. Take a friend of mine whose husband wanted to vote for Trump the first time. We’re pretty sure she talked him out of it. We have secret ballots, so you can’t know for sure.

I agree that we’re never going to convince anyone to change their minds. But that’s not the purpose.

Politics – good or bad, agree or disagree – is a shared experience. It’s the one thing that all Americans (and a handful of enlightened Canadians) have in common. We may be on opposite sides of an issue, but the social environment – the political environment – is something that we all share.

Add that to the fact that humans (and higher animals) are social beings, who congregate, interact, share, and express opinions. That’s basic anthropology.

So we are simply acting out our ingrained, uncontrolled, genetic roles of talking about shared experiences. If a few of us happen to agree on something, mazel tov.

It gives us something to do, to help us feel that we might have an opinion that matters.

@elbanditoroso Shared experiences makes sense…we also talk about our kids, food, movies/tv shows, the weather, pricing, etc.

You’ve given this way too much thought. Debates serve no other purpose than to vehemently oppose someone who doesn’t share your political perspective.

Why does Fluther exist? Why keep coming back? There’s your answer. And each of us has our own answer.

We debate politics because politics is an important part of people’s identity, and when something is part of one’s identity, we defend it vigorously.

It’s basically ego defence, and it makes us feel better about ourselves, and feel we’re better than others who don’t think like we do.

Beats me. I stay away from that.

I think there’s many good reasons to debate politics. For one, it’s the very foundation of a free society. If I can’t criticize the extant regime, how could we ever change it?

I think rather than questioning the fundamental value of the debate, the question should be ‘how can we debate politics BETTER and MORE CIVILLY?’ I think that’s the better…and harder question.

I think it stems from boredom.

It Is a safe way to practice for the real run for office.