Argument - Monty Python

palestne1 HN recommenders · 2019–2025
9.8M views · comedy · evergreen · Uploaded 2017-10-07

The classic Monty Python 'Argument Clinic' sketch, lightly trimmed, in which a man pays for an argument and gets contradiction instead.

Mostly posted as a joke reply in arguments, with one commenter recommending it as a lovely skit about how to argue.

Watch on YouTube

8 comments from Hacker News

@s_gourichon2019 · in “PHP-FPM remote code execution bug exploited in the wild”

"Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says." [LINK] [VIDEO]

@moomin2020 · in “Hundreds arrested as crime chat network cracked”

First off, you definitely should watch this: [VIDEO] But the point is the post just literally contradicted the previous post. There's not a lot of places to go from there.

@chrisco2552021 · in “First genetically modified mosquitoes released in the United States”

Reminds me of the classic Monty Python skit, where a guy goes to a clinic to pay to argue with someone: [VIDEO] "I'd like to have an argument, please."

@failwhaleshark2021 · in “Solana Labs completes a $314M private token sale led by Andreessen Horowitz”

That sounds like contention you've observed correlates with established, balkanized tribal factions. Perhaps it's most typically bikeshedding about minutiae in order to have an argument. Argument - Monty Python [VIDEO]

@yarg2022 · in “Republishing a fork of the sanctioned Tornado Cash repositories”

> so he has a Constitutional right to publish on GitHub. No he doesn't, he's merely allowed to do what Github lets him do. Anyway, this is getting rather silly, so I'll leave you with this: [VIDEO] .

@happytiger2024 · in “GPT Chats with T-Mobile Support to get discounts”

I’m you want me to go on arguing, you’re going to have to pay for another 5 minutes. Every time one of these enshitification AI customer service startups pops up I always think of the ultimate form of where this is going… to people paying to argue with people. Follow me down the rabbit hole for a second. Imagine all of these things succeeded eventually and Customer Service completely saturated by talking to bots, to which they then have to deploy bots, and in very short order essentially becoming a bot API layer for Customer Service issues with gamification driving at the core. It’s almost inevitable. So then, people will want to develop the debate skills. They will feel like they are missing out in the negotiating skills people used to have. There will be coaches to help people learn how to deal with the skills set of negotiation, as all negotiation is now automated (which is, at the root, all this business is — its automated negotiation). Which leads my brain to believe that Monty Python was prescient and this will become a reality. [VIDEO]

@slowhadoken2024 · in “The Bleak Genius of Michel Foucault”

This is a Monty Python skit. Chomsky called him amoral and his philosophy fake. He doesn’t disagree with Foucault’s “philosophy” he thinks it’s fake. A moral person doesn’t swingle people with lies. [VIDEO]

@mooreed2025 · in “How to win an argument with a toddler”

Post reminds me of the absolutely lovely Monty python skit [1] that is not only humorous, but has a lot you can learn from. [1]: [VIDEO]

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