Is debating pointless?

What's the point of debating (in an informal setting with no rules) when your opponent is just going to use ad hominem and logical fallacies to counteract your arguments? Even if you are using facts to back up your argument, your opponent may still not believe them because of cognitive dissonance.

i understand what you are saying 100% however you need to at least say your piece so you are heard my friend otherwise stupid people reign supreme

this desu

you've got to state your position but there's no point having a long drawn out debate with a friend or colleague since it's unlikely to change anyone's mind but you might just give them something to think about

>they're not pseudo sociopaths who just egg people on and make them feel intelligent and special for whatever half baked ideas or opinions they have

Will you guys EVER learn?

And thus you have found out why liberal democracy is an insane and dangerous idea.

You don't debate to convince your opponent. You debate to convince the lurkers watching the thread. Or, if this is outside Veeky Forums, whomever is the audience of your informal debate.

That's why you have set up debates with people who are intellectually honest and mock people when they practice cognitive dissonance.

basically this

The (false) premise of liberal democracy is laid out by John Stuart Mill, and it's more or less like this. In the "free market" of ideas, if everyone gets to say their part, truth will naturally come to the fore as people will reject falsity with reason. This is obviously an insane utopian idea, because it pressuposes two false premises: 1) that people are reasonable, 2) they are interested in the truth. It turns out that the majority of people are driven by desire, not reason, and they prefer to conceal the truth. if it will help them fulfill their appetites. Now add to this powerful interest groups, crooked academics, bogus foundations, puppet politicians, the power of mass media, gullible, short attention spam, high time preference, desire-driven masses ("educated" = having a worthless degree or not, it often makes little difference), and you will have a general picture of our modern democratic system: Plato's worst nightmare x10.

Tl;dr Plato was right about everything.

This. Obviously this doesn't work well on Veeky Forums because of anonymity but IRL if someone stoops down to ad hominem or other fallacies he ends up looking like an idiot.