Stephen Richer

And eventually I just realized you don't want answers from me.

You don't want me to investigate.

You just want me to affirm what you want to believe to be true.

And that was very saddening to me because I come from a world in which the epistemological process is highly valued, in which

Man is a rational creature and things can be scientifically discovered.

And so why did I try to be nice?

I tried to be nice because I don't think anyone has ever persuaded somebody else by telling them that they're an idiot, even though it might be satisfying to say.

And I tried to be nice just so that when I look back on my actions throughout this whole affair, I can hopefully, you know, at least feel good that I wasn't too terribly mean to people.

I've had a few moments where I've slipped, but I think I've done pretty well.

That's right.

And you're on the internet, I think a healthy amount, but you're on the internet enough to see that a lot of these claims keep popping up.

It's like whack of mole.

And weirdly, the burden of proof always seems to be on those of us who won all the court cases, those of us who won all of the audits, and yet it's on us to disprove every single wild-eyed allegation.

I really hate that framework.

I think it should instead be on

the movement, so to speak, on the people who are alleging the thing to have to bear the burden of proof.

But what I do is, you know, somebody throws out a claim, I investigate it, and then I disprove it, and then they move on to another one.

And it's frustrating, it's exhausting.

And again, it just goes to the fact that, you know, a lot of these people aren't looking for facts.

A lot of these people are just looking for affirmation of their beliefs.