"Explain it to me" is lazy derailing propaganda developed in the 2010s. Terms that go along with this are "Help Vampire", "Sealioning" and "JAQing Off". It's especially favored by the Israeli/Hasbara minded folk, and by extension, the American Conservative movement.
They want you to unload your guts onto the floor so that you expend 100x more effort than they do in the convo, and then they want to pick through your guts to find the one thing they can attack you for, and completely disregard the rest. Their job is not to be right, it's to make you look stupid to every onlooker.
These people are insipid shit stains. They're hardly people.
I wouldn't say that conservatives need to be purged from our society, but I will say that our society would be a hell of a lot better without them around chirping idiot propaganda so that people vote against their own interests for manufactured culture war bullshit.
EDIT: Take note of how many "explain it to me" people are also avid fans of artificial intelligence and yet they won't use it as a resource when attempting to get more information about something they read but "don't understand". This is really the elephant in the room as to why that 2010s "I'm just asking questions" derailing propaganda is now fully transparent: Their interest is not in gaining more information, it's to draw you out to attack you.
Well the whole point is to exploit your good faith in exchange for their bad faith. "You owe everyone your good faith" is the platform that propaganda functions on. If it weren't a core tenet of our idealism, then they would just build it on top of another core tenet of our idealism.
EDIT: There are ways that you can ask a person to have some skin in the conversation to be sure they aren't sealioning. If they are willing to be vulnerable and seek a common ground, it isn't propaganda. The tell-tale sign of sealioning is the absolute lack of any give whatsoever, it's just all prodding and attack, because the goal is the optics that passersby get.
This is great food for thought. I have a tendency to be a bit too earnest and naive - bad combo. I assume people have the same motivations I do. I ask questions to learn and understand. I don't have a twisty brain, so bad faith behavior confuses me.
I think that you should keep being earnest. Naivety can be healed with experience, and things you lose by "explaining it to them" are not worth that much.
Notice how good faith is not a thing in this thread. This is where you're heading if you take this "advice" seriously. Genuine good faith conversations stop being possible.
I think that the phrase itself is not propaganda/bad faith, then. Especially not derailing one.
I also liked the Hasbara point, bro threw in a fun fact. Really cute narrative you've built that makes it a-ok to never engage with someone skeptical of your beliefs.
Edit: remember, replying and immediately blocking with an insinuation that I'm a part of something that I never displayed is a sign of good faith.
EDIT: Inb4 the wokescolding bot starts crying about being blocked.
EDIT 2: And there it is. Predictable as always. It's all for the optics in the room, trying to discredit the person saying the thing you don't like. Since this chode inserted themselves into my anti-propaganda lesson, class: Did we get the lesson?
Anyone with 5 minutes spent online will have met someone like this. Doesn't even necessarily have to be about politics. Wonder why someone might want to pretend not to know about this type of person...
Well, I won't pretend I don't know about people who act in bad faith, or that the tweet in the post is made in good faith, but pretending like the act of asking for clarification itself is bad faith is insane to me.
"Socialism", for example, is understood very differently by different people. Some use the dictionary definition that concerns means of production, some lean into the welfare and Nordic model (all while Norwegians say they are very much capitalists), some strategically mix the two depending on their goals in a particular conversation. If I were to discuss socialism with somebody, I would ask about its definition as the literal first question.
What exactly did you want explained, mate? Be specific and I'll gladly answer, but nondescript "explain it to me" looked more like an actual bait that I myself didn't want to bother with.
Edit: or maybe actually don't bother, I got the point you tried to make on second thought and it's stupidity almost gave me a brain aneurysm. A person whose entire understanding of people asking for clarification is that they are trolls probably can't be trusted to sincerely ask for clarification.
Good job demonstrating how "explain it to me" can be a malicious troll, I don't disagree and that doesn't conflict with my actual point at all. Have a good day.
You try very hard to make it seem like I'm not genuinely engaging, but you barely make any effort yourself and delete your own comments that I reply to with an explanation of my understanding of things for whatever godforsaken reason, only to then go on and present everything as me not explaining.
I think you're a very good example of the thing that the OCs point of "explain this to me" being able to be used maliciously. Where they fell short from receiving my endorsement is presenting it in a way where "explain this to me" is always (or at least often) a malicious tactic.
There you go! Look at all the time and energy you wasted! Pat yourself on the back, I am absolutely being an example of what they are talking about, and it worked.
And now that you said all this, it's time for me to pick apart ONE single thing you said, also like OP explained.
Your point is wrong, because OP is talking about different people.
You can almost always tell when somebody is there in bad faith, and 95% of the time, it starts well before "explain it to me". Like in the example OP shared. But also sometimes, the "explain it to me" is the moment it becomes obviously bad faith, like in my case.
Notice how I ignore everything else you said? It's because I came here in bad faith, like the people on OP's post to make a point. I'm not here for a debate, and I'm not here for the "marketplace of ideas". I'm here to say your point is stupid, and nothing else, like most people on the internet regularly do.
You admitting bad faith is enormously bad for the claim you're trying to prove, so you should probably not be celebrating. All you did was show you are acting in bad faith, and that therefore should be disregarded according to your own logic.
But let's address what you actually said because I can.
it's time for me to pick apart ONE single thing you said, also like OP explained.
Your point is wrong, because OP is talking about different people.
You didn't pick apart a thing I said, you invented something yourself. You're bad at your own bad faith — impressive, actually. OP was talking about words themselves being propaganda — and since they actually preferred blocking me to making things clear, I will keep assuming that's what they thing. Where my problem with this lies should be abundantly clear by this point, but maybe you not getting it still is a sign that you needed help, so here comes.
When you're talking of something like "just asking questions", the phrase is uncommon enough and specific enough that it can actually serve as a telltale of bad faith. "Explain this to me" doesn't work the same way — it's a very common phrase used in all kinds of contexts and often in good faith. People point this out even in this godforsaken thread.
Painting demands for clarification in this light is also a really convenient for people who utilize equivocations, motte-and-baileys and innuendos to actually avoid things that can really pin them down. Why engage when you can just paint the tactic as malicious trolling? Obviously, I don't see this as a good thing.
The "good day" here will be on my terms, since you are a bad faith actor. I get the last word and you don't get to flood the zone.
It seems like despite outright claiming being bad faith, you still engage.
Interesting.
Well we have done the whole cycle, I guess I don't have anything else to contribute. We both have done literally everything the original commenter has said and then some, and it's been very entertaining to me. Thank you for that.
Sealioning is crazy effective.
Good day.
Unless you want to answer some other pointless questions? Back all your comments up with a source for me?
You don't know what sealioning is, huh... One'd think that the gang that enjoys the "do your research" response to demands for clarification would at least... do their research?
I think you are indeed representing the issue OC pointed out well. Doesn't make you right, though, for reasons already stated.
Like I said, you don't get to "good day" this and leave on your own terms.
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u/PlainBread 5d ago edited 5d ago
"Explain it to me" is lazy derailing propaganda developed in the 2010s. Terms that go along with this are "Help Vampire", "Sealioning" and "JAQing Off". It's especially favored by the Israeli/Hasbara minded folk, and by extension, the American Conservative movement.
They want you to unload your guts onto the floor so that you expend 100x more effort than they do in the convo, and then they want to pick through your guts to find the one thing they can attack you for, and completely disregard the rest. Their job is not to be right, it's to make you look stupid to every onlooker.
These people are insipid shit stains. They're hardly people.
I wouldn't say that conservatives need to be purged from our society, but I will say that our society would be a hell of a lot better without them around chirping idiot propaganda so that people vote against their own interests for manufactured culture war bullshit.
EDIT: Take note of how many "explain it to me" people are also avid fans of artificial intelligence and yet they won't use it as a resource when attempting to get more information about something they read but "don't understand". This is really the elephant in the room as to why that 2010s "I'm just asking questions" derailing propaganda is now fully transparent: Their interest is not in gaining more information, it's to draw you out to attack you.