this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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askchapo
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What topic are you wanting to discuss? Facts don't actually convince the one you argue with outside of rare cases, but are usually useful for onlookers.
Any and all common talking points.
Yep. Especially online, where the people starting arguments are usually not open to other ideas. There are usually far more onlookers, many who can be engaged. But also, prepared answers are good for quick replies that don't take time to write out and check, just for people to not end up reading it
Interestingly, I've seen at least three people confess to being former US-Libertarians who read the Manifesto of the Communist Party to better dunk on commies, only to realize Marx was making good points. Like you said, this kind of thing is rare, but if there are low-effort ways to find the curious ones, then might keep it as a tactic.
I'd say the 3 most important things to get across are
Pro-socialism
Anti-imperialism
AES is actually good
All 3 are useful to distill into a common collection of sources and arguments. For example, I explain socialism as a mode of production where public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy, and the working classes are in control of the state. This is simple, verifiable, and doesn't require reading theory to get across. The rest depends on how they respond to that.