Petty arguments.

[rogueslayer452]

Taken from the Crunchy Questions Meme:

What's the pettiest thing someone has ever argued with you about?

I had an interesting interaction with someone who commented on one of my fanmix posts years ago, which you can read here. It's not so much of a petty argument but rather confusing argument? I'm still baffled by the entire exchange nonetheless, and I still think about it to this day. While I can understand the curiosity, why would you even want to assume someone's nationality based on the music artists they listen to? That's just odd.

Also some years ago someone decided to be very argumentative on one of my posts regarding a particular fandom, it was only vaguely in relation to something that I had written about and they suddenly decided to just....rant at me about their thoughts. The thing is, I don't mind talking or even debating about things, but this individual was very aggressive with the tone of their comments right out of the gate, and I tried to be civil and understanding but even when I tried to calmly explain my own thoughts (which opposed theirs) or even tried to deescalate things in order to end the conversation they just got more and more aggressive. At the end of the day I think they needed an outlet for their frustration and unfortunately I was made a target simply because I mentioned that fandom in a post. Perhaps they thought I would agree with them, and when I wasn't they got more confrontational. It was certainly a stressful moment for me since it went on for a few days and I kept grappling with how to handle the situation, since I didn't want to freeze the comment thread nor did I want to upset this person any further. Thankfully, it did come to an end. I don't know where this person is now, but I hope they're doing much better.

(Although I'm not sure whether that constitutes as a petty argument since what was being discussed people do have strong feelings and opinions on which are valid, but the way it happened, with them coming into my post just to rant unprompted and continue on like they were intentionally wanting to pick a fight, certainly seemed deemed enough to be petty. There is a time and place for such discussions, and that was neither.)

Those are just a couple of examples that I still think about. Sure, I have real life examples too, but I think online interactions can create unnecessary petty arguments since misunderstandings happen far too often due to miscommunication and tone cannot be read as easily.

Comments

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

... that was bizarre. As a Canadian I'm wondering what was up with their asserting that it's not that bad being a Canadian. Like... what? I'm with you that it's weird to assume your nationality from a fanmix. People know music from other countries. Especially these days when it's much easier to have access to music from all over the world.

What a weird comment.

[blakmagjick]

A friend of a friend argued with me about what year Twin Peaks came out.
One of my fave shows...and I even showed him on IMDb the dates...and he said those can be wrong. Cause he remembers vividly watching the show in his mother's basement when she has a certain couch, and he remembered that she got rid of it in 1989, so it had to have come out earlier than that.
Like...wtf?
I don't talk to the guy, he tried to add me on FB, and I was just like...I can't be friends, even online, with an idiot...hahah

[violateraindrop]

...and Within Temptation is a Dutch band!?

I once had an argument (or rather a disagreement) about the fact that I think it's weird that you have to register for a party in order to vote in the US. They told me that this was the best form of democracy because you already can tell what people are roughly going to vote for.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was just so weird. I wonder if they had something else going on that made them get so defensive in such a weird way, but sometimes people are just....like that, especially online. idk.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Some people are just so strong in their convictions that even when presented with evidence they will deny it, particularly if it conflicts with what they thought they believed in for so long. Of course, this is definitely a weird example since, y'know, it's very easy to check and see when a show aired/premiered and to deny that is just...odd.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

As an American, even I think it's strange that we have to register for a party in order to vote. idk, politics in general give me a headache, but I think it would be easier for people to vote for whoever without saying which party they belong to, y'know? Of course, this country is so warped with how divided it is with the whole Republican versus Democrat nonsense.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I guess for online it's easier to read something wrong or assume a tone. Even still, yes some people seem to be looking for a fight. Weird way to go through life.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Ugh, there was a weirdo in my scifi writers group who kept insisting that Babylon 5 had had more than 22 episodes per season when it originally aired and they were edited together for subsequent airings, even though the Wikipedia page (and the memories of everyone else in the world) clearly showed they aired that way in the first place.

And he also insisted that originally Refa had been the one to poison Adira and they changed it to Morden in the later airings, which is of course also not true.
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