Is it rude to prove someone wrong?

[GaGa]

When you debate with someone and prove them wrong,
sometimes it gives the implication that you might be a 'know it all' or 'stuck up'.
This is especially true when you 'win' debates the majority of the time.
It eventually may rub someone the wrong way. Nobody likes to be wrong.


When someone disagrees with you, is it rude/condescending to prove them wrong?
Should you simply let them continue on ignorant of the truth?

 

[Budget Player Cadet_]

If it's wrong to show people what's right, I don't want to be right.

Essentially what happens in a debate is that the members involved either are (or should be) aiming for a cathartic reaction, either by themselves or with the other person. A person who is not willing to learn is close-minded, and to be honest, if I rub a person like that the wrong way, I don't really care.

Proving someone wrong is not only not rude, it's pretty much the single nicest thing you can do.

 

[ballin4life]

People don't usually admit that they are wrong. I mostly focus on trying to persuade a neutral observer.

Also I am a stuck up know it all

 

[eschemat]

Why would proving someone right a bad thing? If someone's blatantly racist, isn't it a civic duty to try and erase that state of wrongness? And for the sake of dispelling ignorance, isn't that a good idea too?

 

[global-wolf]

If you prove someone wrong in a rude way, then it's rude. You can also prove someone wrong in a polite way.

 

[Bob Jane T-Mart]

When you debate with someone and prove them wrong,
sometimes it gives the implication that you might be a 'know it all' or 'stuck up'.
This is especially true when you 'win' debates the majority of the time.
It eventually may rub someone the wrong way. Nobody likes to be wrong.


When someone disagrees with you, is it rude/condescending to prove them wrong?
Should you simply let them continue on ignorant of the truth?

Here's what I have to say.

If they're wrong and you're right and you prove yourself to be right, you have committed no crime (unless the other person really doesn't want to argue about the subject, in which case the act of arguing is the issue). However, if you then rub it in and gloat about it, that's being a douche.

 

[Battlecow]

The way you framed it, the answer is obviously no.