Passive-aggressive comments

Reading the passive-aggressive comments under an excellent video about humanitarian aid reassured me a little.

It's not just me.

People attack arguments that the video explicitly addresses. Sometimes in the very same words. In fact, it's the main point of the video. But it's as if they hadn't seen it, hadn't heard it.

Deep down, I think they stay fixed on the part that annoys them, that threatens them, that challenges their identity – and ignore everything else. In poker, you'd say they're on tilt: too shaken to think clearly.

You have to keep that in mind when you reply. You're not talking to rational people with different opinions. You're talking to wounded egos trying to justify their identity.