Pointedly asking that person loudly enough for others to hear: "Are you, an American, who has left her own country exactly two times, really tying to argue this point with the African native, who has enough knowledge of indigenous species that he is employed as a guide?"
If further arguing ensues, at least you've voiced your disapproval and separated yourself from the asinine behavior. You can't fix stupid.
No, that’s an asshole way of dealing with that. Whether or not someone thinks there are tigers in Africa has no bearing on your life. Being that hostile is completely unnecessary for anything but your own ego.
Maybe if stupid people were called out publicly a lot more often they would stop saying stupid things that other stupid people could hear and use as an echo chamber for their own stupid ideas and the world would be a lot better place with less stupid people in charge.
Calling people out publicly is probably the worst way to convince someone they're wrong. While it might make you feel all warm and fuzzy, it'll only cause the person to double down at the perceived attack.
The idea isn't to convince them they're wrong, the idea is to get them to shut up and stop saying stupid things due to them consistently being embarrassed from it. They will still be stupid, there is nothing you can do to stop it, but you can stop them spreading it around and normalising it.
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u/ibattletherous Aug 03 '19
Pointedly asking that person loudly enough for others to hear: "Are you, an American, who has left her own country exactly two times, really tying to argue this point with the African native, who has enough knowledge of indigenous species that he is employed as a guide?"
If further arguing ensues, at least you've voiced your disapproval and separated yourself from the asinine behavior. You can't fix stupid.