I like pancakes. So I hate debates.

If I think about what I like and dislike about the internet, contrasting what I find pleasant or productive with what I find unpleasant or unproductive, I can’t escape the conclusion that debating strangers stands out as the principal activity that makes me dislike, even hate the internet. A long internet debate with a stranger can drastically sour my mood, ruining a whole day. And I can’t recall a single long debate with a stranger that ever ended well, in my decades on the internet. Short debates are not so bad: when some internet rando pops up with an aggressively stupid reply on social media, I immediately block and forget them. These fools are naturally forgettable. The real “stranger danger” is the clever ones, especially the trolls. They can bait you into a long debate by sounding reasonable, at least at the beginning, often initiating a debate with a passive-aggressive question. When you attempt to answer the stranger’s question, they’ve hooked you. You bite, and now you’re…