Why Are You Picking on the Dambreaker?

I more and more see arguments that look like this parable below.  Originally confined to the internet.

There’s a dude who’s jackhammering a hole into a dam and packing it with explosives. Along comes a man who asks what he’s doing.

“I’m going to blow up the dam.”

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because the water will rush downstream in an upheaving flood, destroying homes and killing thousands.  Old people, men, women, children, babies, carried away and drowned.”

“Woah.  Babies even.  Heavy!” says the dude with the jackhammer.

“Babies even,” says the man walking by.

“If there was another dam built just a few feet downstream from this one, that wouldn’t happen. Problem solved. Completely.”

“But there isn’t a second damn like that.”

“Then maybe you should get on that instead of wasting your time with me. Yeah, there’s not a second dam. How is that my fault? In actual fact, I personally am in favor of building a second dam there but you didn’t ask me, did you? You just came in here making assumptions.”

“OK, but that doesn’t change that there still isn’t a second dam there.”

“And how is that my fault again? Oh, you think I’m just going to somehow put my plans on hold while I singlehandedly build a second dam? There’s no way I could do that. You have impossible expectations for me. It’s kinda toxic to be honest.”

Before the man who walked by can say anything, the jackhammer dude goes on.

“Or, you could just have those downstream people move. Look at all the land that’s up on the mesa. Why aren’t you complaining to the town government about why they aren’t moving the town? Or, hey, you could ask the people who live in the town to take a little personal responsibility for living in a flood zone. But no, you’d rather just single me out for criticism. I’m apparently the ONE person who matters. It all comes down to me. I’m flattered you think that. No, really. But maybe that’s a little insulting to all those other people you act like don’t matter at all?”

I could imagine the exact same scene except with the man walking along talking to a bystander who gives the same hysterical replies.

The reality is that persuasive argument is almost useless these days. its mostly on line where everyone is just putting on a show for virtual appaluse, and even away from the e-crowd, people still imagine themselves putting on a performance for an imagined audience when you talk to them in real life.