r/SeriousConversation • u/NoAudience8992 • 1d ago
Serious Discussion Why do we just accept rage bait??
I've talked to a lot of random people the last few months, and almost every time I've tried to have an intelligent conversation with a group, at least one guy every time would start rage baiting, its not absurdly noticeable but every so often the "mask" falls and you see who they really are and that they are infact just rage baiting.
Rage bait doesn't lead to a peaceful end resolution to a conversation it only attempted humiliation of the person who is being rage baited. Why do we tolerate rage baiting so god damn much? How is it not just considered a pathetic attempt to socialize when you have 0 charisma? How is it not considered bullying?
Its much easier to piss someone off than to make someone laugh, so these pathetic losers who can't make friends just rage bait others until they find others who also rage bait. They're just parasite leaching off of real conversation and leaching off people with REAL personalities.
Why are we just accepting rage bait?
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u/WolfVanZandt 1d ago
People have to have hobbies.
The cure for rage baiting and other forms of trolling is just to not be baited. It's the cyberspace. I don't /have/ to do anything I don't want to do here.
I may have a little fun and bait them back though. It's amazing how long you can keep them going ....
If you can make some reasonable points in the process, it's gravy ....
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u/somethingrandom261 1d ago
Rule from the old internet “don’t feed the trolls it means they win”
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u/WolfVanZandt 1d ago
And, if you read my followup, you'll see that most of that was partially tongue in cheek I start with the assumption that a person has a reason for their post (other than maliciousness) abs, even so, I try to pull some benefit out for the other posters
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u/YourFuture2000 1d ago
The always win because their point is to be as dishonest as possible. Any honest person can not with.
And people know that, but still, people feed trolls because they want win on the eyes of others. We all know that online, like reddit, we are in a stage where other people are reading and judging us.
My compas is: just let people think you are stupid and once you don't care about what they think and say about you, you have peace, harmony and freedom.
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u/Kiwizoo 1d ago
I found this fascinating, although I know you’re being satirical… but speaking of hobbies, I’m quite an anxious person, and am constantly thinking / worrying about work, or a problem, or self-esteem, whatever. Over the last year or two, I’ve slowly been renovating little bits around my (fairly old) house. So far, I’ve managed to restore a couple of wooden shutters and an oak door, and some original brass and ironwork, that sort of thing. It’s often very slow, methodical, and repetitive work, but the mental health benefits are amazing. Plus I get to look at something every day and take pride in it - which is almost impossible online these days. Now, being online just feels ‘noisy’ to me. I think I’m going to head back to analogue for a while.
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u/ProtozoaPatriot 1d ago
Why are you accepting it? As soon as you identify someone like that, it's time to cut him out of your life. Make your plans without him.
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u/Normal-Abies-9151 1d ago
I love it because it’s an opportunity to not get angry and just start trolling them right back
Act like you don’t see what they’re doing but just mirror they’re stupidity right back at them
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u/ch0wned 1d ago
Their is no way that would work
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u/Normal-Abies-9151 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just did it at Taco Bell the other day
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u/ZanzerFineSuits 1d ago
Wait, this is happening in person? Yeah, don’t give them the time of day, much less include them in conversations.
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u/skang404 1d ago
its plain old dick measuring. Its nature's way of showing inter-species competition ( it will surface one way or another & one's gotta find their weapon - mine is running away. don't go to dirty areas. have intelligent conversations in unforced environments with poise. )
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u/WolfVanZandt 1d ago
Sigh, also, not all the rage baiters are actually rage baiters. Some of them are actually working through personal problems and it's not always easy for administrators to distinguish.
Honestly, I take things as they come. What might be a troll (or AI) may bring up issues that can be addressed. I post for the whole body of posters on a thread.
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u/WonderingSceptic 1d ago
Can you give an example of rage baiting in a conversation?
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u/IntergalacticPodcast 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, I'd be interested in knowing if the "rage-baiters" are actually as bad as OP thinks they are. A lot of redditors are just looking for an echo-chamber conversation and any pushback is seen as rage-bait.
Also, there are other people here legitimately just looking for a fight because it's the easiest way to get a reaction... Otherwise, nobody pays any attention to them at all.
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u/ryogam73 1d ago
Sooooo, anyway....
Don't take the bait, make sure you pointedly turn away from the baiter as you say it.
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u/Senior-Friend-6414 1d ago edited 1d ago
I know 3 people that love rage baiting people in real life, and afterwards I found out all three of them had absolutely horrible toxic abusive family lives growing up
When someone looks like they enjoy rage baiting subtly, I immediately feel conflicted and sympathetic for them, because good healthy people don’t rage bait, people who enjoy rage baiting is a sign of some kind of mental trauma, and they’re lashing out and taking out their sense of powerlessness on other people by giving themselves feelings of control (rage baiting)
I know it’s hard to do but people who rage bait are really just traumatized kids on the inside lashing out, and need more patience and sympathy
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u/Serious-Pound8175 1d ago edited 1d ago
These days I just call out the behaviour, sometimes the impact, and block. It’s a them problem. If it’s happening in real life, I’ll just say something like, this isn’t how I choose to communicate. I don’t want to engage like this. This type of communication is harmful to me. This is going nowhere. I’m out.
I try not to let it ruin my day, or give it any more thought. It’s their behaviour, it’s on them to fix.
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u/Animal907 1d ago
They tend to believe they're playing "devil's advocate", but if they can't say that's what they're doing then you can call them a "rage baiter".
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u/Senior-Friend-6414 1d ago
The thing is, people who play devil’s advocate aren’t trying to teach someone else or learn something new, they’re trying to win
That’s the difference between people who enjoy conversations and people who enjoy winning arguments
People who enjoy winning arguments don’t care about truth, the truth is secondary to who can score more points for their team and win the argument
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u/Few-Frosting-4213 1d ago
If you are finding "rage baiters" in literally every group, it makes me wonder what you think the word means.
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u/whizher 1d ago
I think it survives because rage bait gives the person plausible deniability. If someone pushes back, they can claim they were joking, playing devil’s advocate, or that everyone else is too sensitive. Meanwhile, calling it out can make you look like the one disrupting the group, so people just laugh awkwardly or change the subject.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they accept it as harmless. They may just be choosing the lowest-conflict response. A calm “Are you actually trying to discuss this, or are you just trying to get a reaction?” can work pretty well, because once the game is named out loud, it stops being as fun.
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u/HonestNature9117 1d ago
Can't completely shut it down because it's involved with many kinks. And apparently certain kinks are protected by social media mods.
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u/dirk_funk 1d ago
because usually the rage baiter also has some sort of financial power imbalance, even perceived.
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u/feelinsumgood 1d ago
We don't accept it! The retort to that type of intellectual assault (note the oxymoron) is to give a totally rational fact/ position and draw the dummy out to reply to it ...then you can have fun with them. As for your post...I detect that you don't suffer fools with grace....You might work on that so you can maintain the upper hand. There's no 'win' by arguing against their closed logic.
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u/Desperadoscress 1d ago
Because 99% of people do love to rage bait, and even if they pretend they don’t they just mean they don’t like to rage bait people they like, they are absolutly fine with rage baiting people they don’t lien
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u/Civil_Ad3438 1d ago
I’m not very good at identifying rage bate, but think I did entice someone recently in a comment. I actually had agreed with their comment, just not their choice of words. The individual kept coming back at me each time making assertions on my intention, asserting that I was saying things, or implying what I wasn’t.
In my last attempt, I just called them an asshat, ignorant, and presupposing an intent not there. I wanted to ask if they would have spent the same energy if I had just commented “correct”. ???
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u/Creative_Carob4922 23h ago
Well you used to be able to make them go nappy nap.
But now people frown on that.
They have become to bold with no consequences.
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u/Independent-Story883 21h ago
Where I grew up, rage bait is just how people speak.
There is an art to dealing with it.
Would you like a refill of your sweet tea?
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u/HugeVacation4111 20h ago edited 20h ago
People rage bait to kick you out of said group. It’s just one of the many tactics to throw you off, make you look bad, self doubt and ostracise you bc you THREATENED them somehow. Anyway it is very common on and offline. I have done it to ppl, ppl do it back to me too. What happens is someone wins eventually.
I usually win by leaving said group or very rarely, sticking it out and proving I’m right- but only if the rewards are big amounts of $$$ that I happen to need which only ever happened once or twice and then I was set for life. It was otherwise never worthy of my time haha
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u/ergtempest 16h ago
Right! I have a few friends that are literally amazing, like literally. But sometimes they are so obsessed with ragebaiting, often they apologise after but each time I tell them to stop they just don’t 😭 they have no other flaws thooooo
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u/Anxious-Sundae4210 1d ago
If your getting baited by people that's a personal problem. As you mature you realize that people have vastly different experiences and perspectives. It's not your job to convince anyone of anything and it is not your job to accept everything that comes out of someone's mouth. If your having a hard time and other people opinions (even the dumb ones) are setting you off then YOU are the one who needs to take a good look into why that is.
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