One of the best things I’ve ever read: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-11-20/six-bad-arguments-for-u-s-to-take-in-syrian-refugees
The posts are not intended to
convince anyone. They are to signal tribal loyalties to people who already
agree with you, while you marinate in your own sense of moral superiority.
It took me years of writing on the
Internet to learn what is nearly an iron law of commentary: The better your
message makes you feel about yourself, the less likely it is that you are
convincing anyone else. The messages that make you feel great about yourself
(and of course, your like-minded friends) are the ones that suggest you’re a
moral giant striding boldly across the landscape, wielding your inescapable
ethical logic. The messages that work are the ones that try to understand
what the other side is thinking, on the assumption that they are no better or
worse than you. So if you are actually trying to help the Syrian refugees,
rather than marinate in your own sensation of overwhelming virtue, you should
avoid these tactics.
