Wasn't complaining. It's just an oddity to me. It's the same people making the same arguments over and over with only slight (if any) variations making no head way in either direction and yet none of the participants are giving ground and keep coming back to restate what they have already said. It's amazing.
You exhibit a fascinating level of misunderstanding abut the function of public discourse and argument.
Allow me to explain to you how argument works in human society.
Almost NO ONE, espousing any given perspective, ever has their mind changed during the course of any argument.
That is a given, but the notion that that fact renders argument futile is myopic. You make the sophomoric mistake of assuming that the point of countering someone's argument is to change that person's mind. Its not.
First of all, argument, when done properly, is Public… that is, it is generally presented in the form of a debate that others observe… without participating actively in the discussion.
Here on internet- they might be referred to as "lurkers" although, in truth, many do contribute when they feel they have something to contribute- but they MOSTLY just read what is being presented.
THIS group of people are the people whom Debate and Argument serves. If they do not feel strongly enough, one way or the other, to present an argument of their own, but read because the topic interests them, then they are the group whose opinions might be swayed by arguments that are well supported or well reasoned. This does not mean that their opinions will be changed as they follow the debate… but they can not walk away without the IDEAS and arguments they heard walking with them. As they go thru life post debate, they will have MORE experiences, perhaps see old or new information, relevant to the issue, in a subtly different light… colored by the vying reasoning they have heard.
And, in fact, this process of very gradual shifting or one's perspective or beliefs DOES occur to the people who are making the arguments in the heat of debate. They, too, will seldom change their minds over one clever rebuttal… rather, no matter how much they rail agasint a good argument in counter, they, too, can not walk away without having heard that argument… and they, too, over he course of months or years, may find the core appeal of a good argument become less deniable with subsequent experience and, ultimately come to a different conclusion than that which they defended in the original debate. It might take dozens of debates, from multiple sources, over decade, even… to effect this change- but it DOES occur.
Over time, people WILL have their opinions change, or evolve, one way or the other… without even realizing any one moment in which they specifically changed their minds. But it ALWAYS is because they heard, at some or several points in their past, compelling arguments they eventually could not deny.
This is why, for example, the public attitude toward Gay rights has undergone such a drastic and fundamental about face over the past decade. From a culture where most supported laws discriminating against gay relationships… to a culture where most people believe the exact opposite.
No one changed their minds because of a single thread. But then, NO ONE ever
would have changed their minds had no one bothered to argue the point.
The Argument, in and of itself, IS the means by which ideas are changed. And there is no other way to effect any change in culture, at all.