Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 2)

[benji]

It's not a rhetorically brilliant move but it is a rhetorically interesting one because of what it says about the person who uses it. You're admitting you can't answer the question but are framing the asker as a bad person for having the gall to challenge you knowing that you can't answer it. They're acting in "bad faith" by shattering the illusion that you are a master of the subject. The subject now shifts from whatever it was to the bad manners and revealed evil morals of the critic.

Yet this somehow works on large swaths of the population apparently.

[DavidCroquet]

FACT CHECK:

https://medium.com/westenberg/nobody-who-says-theyre-just-asking-questions-actually-wants-an-answer-5f4cee4d74d4

The “just asking questions” brigade, on the other hand, tends to be remarkably resistant to any answers that don’t align with their preconceived notions.
This is because their questions aren’t meant to illuminate — they’re meant to obscure. They’re not looking for clarity; they’re creating a fog of uncertainty in which their preferred beliefs can thrive. It’s intellectual vandalism, spray-painting question marks over the edifice of established knowledge.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Higher in the article there's this gem.

When was the last time you heard someone say, “I’m just asking questions” about something utterly uncontroversial? You don’t hear people “just asking questions” about whether the sky is blue or if water is wet.

That's a good point. I never hear anyone "just asking questions" about whether water is wet. When poeple are "just asking questions", I suppose it indicates that there is some ongoing debate regarding the topic?

No, this phrase invariably precedes inquiries designed to cast doubt, sow confusion, or push a particular worldview.

Oh, well uh...that seems like a big leap. But if you say so!

[HaughtyFrank]

"Just accept what I tell you, man! All those questions, man, they're fogging up my brain, man. STOP ASKING THOSE QUESTIONS, MAN! STOP FOGGING UP MY BRAIN, MAN"

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[benji]

When was the last time you heard someone say, “I’m just asking questions” about something utterly uncontroversial? You don’t hear people “just asking questions” about whether the sky is blue or if water is wet.

If you really want me to, I could.

[benji]

But (much like the askers) questions are tools. Sometimes they’re used to seek genuine understanding, sure. In an ideal world, that’s how we’d take ’em. But in this world, they’re wielded as instruments of persuasion, manipulation, and attack. The person “just asking questions” is trying to plant a seed of doubt, to nudge you towards a particular conclusion without explicitly stating it.

It’s cognitive manipulation. By framing their agenda as a series of questions, they put their target on the defensive. You’re scrambling to disprove negative assertions disguised as innocent inquiries. And in doing so, you’ve already ceded ground. You’ve accepted the premise that these questions are worth entertaining, that there’s some validity to the doubts being raised.

This is where the real insidiousness of “just asking questions” comes into play. It exploits a quirk of human psychology — our tendency to attribute more credence to ideas simply because they’ve been repeated or discussed.

   

I noticed a hilarious contradiction:

Real critical thinking is a slow, painstaking process of developing the skills to evaluate evidence, to understand complex systems, to recognize one’s own biases, and being willing to say “I don’t know” and to change one’s mind in the face of new information.

In a functioning marketplace of ideas, bad ideas are eventually discarded. Questions are asked, evidence is examined, and conclusions are drawn. But the “just asking questions” tactic is an attempt to keep bad ideas on life support indefinitely, avoiding the verdict of the intellectual marketplace by endlessly reopening settled debates like so many weeping wounds.

This is where the real harm comes in. By constantly “just asking questions” about established facts, these fuckers create a false equivalence between fringe theories and well-supported ideas. They erode public trust in expertise and institutions. They make it harder for people to distinguish between credible information and baseless speculation.

We are staring down the barrel of existential threats — climate change, pandemics, the upheaval of AI — this erosion of shared reality is dangerous. We need robust, fact-based debates about how to address these issues. Instead, we’re mired in endless arguments about whether these problems even exist, fueled by bad-faith actors “just asking questions.”

...

We need to get comfortable with the idea that not all views deserve equal consideration. Some questions have been asked and answered. Some debates have been settled. Continuing to entertain long-debunked ideas in the name of “just asking questions” isn’t open-mindedness — it’s a waste of time and mental energy.

Strange how the anti-JAQing off crowd rarely holds this stance about certain topics like I don't know, capitalism, free speech or human biology.

I love the unspoken assumption throughout that it's just so hard to answer things like how vaccines work or why murdering people for their race is wrong (two of her examples) which you sometimes see Era also do, that it's just so hard to refute Nazism or whatever. Like, no, not really.

[D3RANG3D]

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Your average liberal and so called progressive voter....

[who is ted danson?]

Sitting here taking a shit listening to BLOW by Kesha 

why not play sonic x shadow generations on switch 2 whilst shitting?

[Boredfrom]

If he is running for the GOP in 28, literally anyone could beat him.

"But we can't run AOC tho she's a woman/too much to clean up!!!"

 

So you are admitting that AOC is not popular enough and should be the nominee because “feels”? 

https://www.resetera.com/threads/cnn-jd-vance-is-the-most-unpopular-vp-in-us-history.1489144/

[Boredfrom]

Yay more forever wars... 

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Because let's face facts Iran is next...!

 

[D3RANG3D]

So you mad...because my predictions came true...? Or that I forgot about the fact that presidents do not give a fuck and basically do what their donors wanted them to do during their second terms...?

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Either way...

[Jansen]

Sitting here taking a shit listening to BLOW by Kesha 

Fuck you guys this was a good joke 😭

[benji]

If he is running for the GOP in 28, literally anyone could beat him.

"But we can't run AOC tho she's a woman/too much to clean up!!!"

https://www.resetera.com/threads/cnn-jd-vance-is-the-most-unpopular-vp-in-us-history.1489144/

Is that why Kamala Harris (also a woman apparently) is the only Dem that consistently beats him?

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[Boredfrom]

So you mad...because my predictions came true...? Or that I forgot about the fact that presidents do not give a fuck and basically do what their donors wanted them to do during their second terms...?

Is more about bitching about other people ideologies and keeping the act of “I don’t care about politics and I’m beyond it.”  

I actually like that post and agree with it.  

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

?

[Jansen]

From constructive

Super bummed that I missed the post 😞

[benji]

Just call your mom and ask little bro:


 Factually. Wrong. Nazi. Boy.  

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[D3RANG3D]

It's pretty dogshit ideology if it falls apart like tissue paper...at the slightest difference of opinion...I'm looking at you the people who did not actually vote because cackles wasn't woke enough for you or whatever! I don't really care in the slightest and I still don't, and never will about any of these dogshit politics because...it's all a dog and pony show in the end! And if you can't see that...then you gotta be retarded!

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

And sometimes I just like to poke the bear...because it's fun...?

[Shecky Fragbaum]

FACT CHECK:

https://medium.com/westenberg/nobody-who-says-theyre-just-asking-questions-actually-wants-an-answer-5f4cee4d74d4

The “just asking questions” brigade, on the other hand, tends to be remarkably resistant to any answers that don’t align with their preconceived notions.
This is because their questions aren’t meant to illuminate — they’re meant to obscure. They’re not looking for clarity; they’re creating a fog of uncertainty in which their preferred beliefs can thrive. It’s intellectual vandalism, spray-painting question marks over the edifice of established knowledge.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Higher in the article there's this gem.

When was the last time you heard someone say, “I’m just asking questions” about something utterly uncontroversial? You don’t hear people “just asking questions” about whether the sky is blue or if water is wet.

That's a good point. I never hear anyone "just asking questions" about whether water is wet. When poeple are "just asking questions", I suppose it indicates that there is some ongoing debate regarding the topic?

No, this phrase invariably precedes inquiries designed to cast doubt, sow confusion, or push a particular worldview.

Oh, well uh...that seems like a big leap. But if you say so!

Sort of a corollary to the arguement of "people cannot be reasoned out of a position that they were never reasoned into," the same people hate being questioned on things they cannot be bothered to explain.

Look how they swarm upon a time-tested rhetorical tool for strengthening one's argument.
To be fair, there is some pushback (from deleted accounts).

Maybe granting feelings the same intellectual weight as facts was a bad move?

[Boredfrom]

And sometimes I just like to poke the bear...because it's fun...?

 

True.

[Snoopy]

If I was a Nazi concentration camp guard I like to think I'd be the camp comedian. I'd do funny Hitler impressions and wear shirts with slogans like Every Hole's A Goal. I'd be so popular the inmates would even defend me "Oh come on, it's not his fault." They'd say "He's just following orders." While I was shutting the doors.

[benji]

If I was a Nazi concentration camp guard I like to think I'd be the camp comedian. I'd do funny Hitler impressions and wear shirts with slogans like Every Hole's A Goal. I'd be so popular the inmates would even defend me "Oh come on, it's not his fault." They'd say "He's just following orders." While I was shutting the doors.

I pitched this as a pilot with Mark Ruffalo after I got a lot of laughs at open mic but Zaslav said they weren't doing woke crap anymore.

[Jansen]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/so-fortnite-is-disabling-an-accessibility-feature-in-some-modes.1488187/page-5#post-153671857

User banned (1 month): Ableism over multiple posts. Account in junior phase.

Banned for engaging with zeovagine

[benji]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/ed-nortons-character-from-american-history-x-is-just-your-typical-republican-these-days.1489102/

Saw this pop up in my Instagram feed and it is WILD how Norton's nazi character was meant to be extreme in the 90s.

Conservatives will agree with all this then insist they're not Nazi sympathizers with a straight face.

Mask off has been the meta rite last decade plus

For a second I thought you meant the actor. What a swerve that would have been.

But yeah, I recall the movie remarking on the pervasiveness of these attitudes with his father being casually very, very racist. It's just that decorum is pretty much dead now.

I vaguely recall his character seen as a hero in Neo nazi online groups.

He's a typical Maine democrat too

Oh shit, lol

I vaguely recall his character seen as a hero in Neo nazi online groups.

I always ask them about the ending of the movie and they go silent.

You hang out in Neo-Nazi online groups a lot?

In a lot of ways a typical modern Republican is worse, as they'll never spend a moment in self reflection.

When I turned 18, this is a film my aunt pushed me to watch because of how important she viewed it.

She has since claimed things the Nazis in this movie say sincerely, and I often wonder if she realizes the contradiction there.

Yeah, maga doesn't learn or change. It's only a fair comparison before the character went to prison and changed.

Huge difference that is being left out here.

Always been. It's the same as 👌 starting out as a fake white-supremacy symbol. Propagandists take everything they can get a hold off.

As a teen I thought some of it was over the top to make a point... But reality has made me reconsider lol

...but none of what Norton's character says in the first half is even close to Nazism?

Also, this literally was all stuff Republicans (and Democrats) said in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's and 1990's. I can find you talking heads having this same argument. Hell, it's what Era said Mitt Romney was saying in 2011-12.

But most importantly, until I watched this I didn't even realize that both Sisko AND KES are in this movie.

Speaking of  btw:

Bob Sweeney: There was a moment, when I used to blame everything and everyone for all the pain and suffering and vile things that happened to me, that I saw happen to my people. Used to blame everybody. Blamed White people, blamed society, blamed God. I didn't get no answers 'cause I was asking the wrong questions. You have to ask the right questions.
Derek Vinyard: Like what?
Bob Sweeney: Has anything you've done made your life better?

[HaughtyFrank]

From constructive

Super bummed that I missed the post 😞

Ah what a shame I missed it too. What I can say though is that previously Croix was a hardcore lefty/wokie so I assume this was an angry post about B-Dubs being a filthy liberal

[simiansmarts]

 Factually. Wrong. Nazi. Boy.  

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Meanwhile in the Boys thread on Resetera...  
https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-boys-final-season-ot-its-time-to-face-reality.1483735/page-2

[Snoopy]

If I was a Nazi concentration camp guard I like to think I'd be the camp comedian. I'd do funny Hitler impressions and wear shirts with slogans like Every Hole's A Goal. I'd be so popular the inmates would even defend me "Oh come on, it's not his fault." They'd say "He's just following orders." While I was shutting the doors.

I pitched this as a pilot with Mark Ruffalo after I got a lot of laughs at open mic but Zaslav said they weren't doing woke crap anymore.

Always start with "Woo boy, this is definitely going to get me cancelled but..."

[HaughtyFrank]

You guys ever wonder if Schultz was hanged in Nuremburg?

[benji]

In all probability both Klink and Schultz would have been those guys they would prosecute when they were like 90.

[Uncle]

You guys ever wonder if Schultz was hanged in Nuremburg?

no, his neck fat was too thick

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://sfstandard.com/2026/04/12/sam-altman-s-home-targeted-second-attack/

Early Sunday morning, a car stopped and appears to have fired a gun at the Russian Hill home of OpenAI’s CEO, according to police.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/someone-threw-a-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altman%E2%80%99s-home.1488097/page-4#post-153702622

Neat

https://www.resetera.com/threads/someone-threw-a-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altman%E2%80%99s-home.1488097/page-4#post-153703321

Good. It's time to grow an army of Luigis.

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/people-who-were-adults-in-the-90s-i-need-your-perspective.1489213/#post-153703891

So something you need to understand up front, for America at least: the 90s was worse than the 80s for marginalized people.