A Few Tips For Engaging in Facebook Debates

1. Consistency. Trotting out the latest tropes about women, people in poverty, and immigrants while insisting you’re the furthest thing from a misogynist is not going to help you make your case.

2. Show me, don’t tell me. Talking about how awesome an advocate you are for women while arguing for legislation that will roll back women’s rights ain’t gonna convince me for shit. I will consider the telling a flat out lie, and take the showing for what you really are.

3. Bingo! Get me a bingo on the anti-feminist bingo card, and I will cease taking the discussion seriously, and begin to mock you.

4. Playground. If you do the above, and then act all surprised when I get angry and respond angrily, I will conclude that you’re nothing but a troll. I’ll call you on your stupidity.

5. Be nice! Don’t act like an asshole for the entire discussion, and then cry foul when I stop treating it like a civil discussion. Admonishing me to be nice while acting like a jackass is also pretty misogynistic.

6. Sob story! Don’t tell me how haaaaaard it is to be you. I don’t really care at this point. You’re just trying to score points. I will not play the “who’s life is worse” game. I’m not really believing your sob story is the truth, either.

7. Store clerks look at me! MRA whining? Really? You’re really going there? Don’t go there.

8. I know everything! No, you really don’t. You have a whole hell of a lot to learn. Just by telling me you know allll about feminism already, so why the fuck would you waste time reading Feminism 101 blogs, tells me you know nothing.

9. Feminazi! Fucking really? Stop talking. That shit disgusts me, as it would any decent person. You lose your decent person card.

10. Olive branch! You’re not extending me an olive branch. The only way to end this amicably is to apologize, and shut the fuck up and listen. Clogging up my inbox with your trash isn’t making peace–you’re just trying to hide from the rest of the facebook world what a jerk you are. Transparent, you are.

This, my friends, is how I spent my evening. What a waste of time.