I guess it’s part of, or related to, the Dunning-Kruger effect, where the less someone knows about a subject, the more confident they are of their competence, but I've noticed they are also less aware of when they decisively lose an argument. They'll just keep going and strutting and crowing about how great they are, and calling the smarter person insulting names.
Also, it may appear to average observers that they really did “win” because the person who knows what they’re talking about can be stunned into silence, and the audience doesn't understand any of it. I understand the stunned silence.
I mean, what can you say to someone who is obviously missing the whole point, but is acting like they just won a Nobel Prize in internet reasoning?
I've watched this from the sidelines many times. Rarely getting involved beyond a "like" because there's no point. But it almost makes my head swim sometimes.
There are a couple of great debaters- dare I call them Master Debaters?- on X that I love watching totally destroy those who (try to) argue against them. It's shocking how often the one who has been destroyed declares themselves the "winner" and seems to honestly believe it. It's kind of funny, but it does prove Unfortunate Truth #1.
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