Conversations? What conversations?

I was watching a video where two people were having an argument over a topic (insert your Ben Shapiro or Steven Crowder video). There was a guest asking a question to a speaker and the latter replying to it. Because the guest thought his question was quite clever, he did it in a way that read as “I got you”. The guest was not looking for an answer. But rather an opportunity to make the speaker uncomfortable in front of a live audience. These questions can be seen miles away and they serve not to establish a dialogue, but to further split opinions. The speaker was well prepared and he easily deconstructed the question. In the end the guest looked like a fool and the speaker as the hero. Who decides who’s who is at what point the audience claps - nothing else. Independently of one’s opinion on the topic - either agreeing with one or the other - these conversations are juvenile. On one hand, there’s no curiosity or willingness to learn from whoever’s asking the question. And if the true motive for initiating any conversation, or argument, is to make the other person look bad, then everyone’s already losing. But on the other hand, the speaker could have had empathy and created a teachable moment. Instead the speaker smirked and the lynching mob in the comments further added gasoline to the fire. I take a step further. Even when there’s a honest desire to know more by the person asking, if they get a good reply, they always look like a fool.

There’s no willingness to learn, none to teach and we further divide society.