I get stunned and tongue-tied when attacked after posting or saying something about preferring capitalism over other systems. All the attacks seem to not be arguments against whatever topic I mentioned, but general rants against the idea that capitalism could be the least bad option for anything.

The worst of it is that I get sucked into the same behavior as soon as those attacks start. I respond in defensive mode with nearly a identical form but form the other viewpoint. I hate that I do that.

For example. I posted an article about how a free market for vaccines could work and would have benefits over the tightly controlled process currently in use written by a widely-known, well-respected economist.

The immediate responses were along like these:

I couldn’t get past the first two lines. Disgusting article.

I don’t need to read past a premise that the FDA is responsible for 284,000 deaths because they didn’t release a vaccine.

Yawn. Could have saved a lot of reading by marking the top of this article as free market fanfiction.

Yeah, we don’t need the FDA and experts when Deus ex Market can do all the work for us.

Nothing in their comments suggesting that the article was actually read and considered. No cogent counter arguments to any of the points. No questions about any aspects of consequences of it. Just rants against free markets and capitalism.

I, of course, responded pretty much in kind. I threw my own rants back at them instead of asking the Ranters to clarify what specifically they saw as not workable and what they knew, or had read, that would provide a counter from their political viewpoint that would have been better than the existing process. Then I left the conversation. I am certain that many of them viewed that as success and vindication that they absolutely must have the better argument. I was just frustrated with myself and tired of the non-productive rant-tossing.