We should never be comfortable being wrong

After a debate with someone who ends up being disproved, have they ever responded "You don't always have to be right!" ?

I'm not advocating that I/you should start butting into conversations of strangers just because they have the wrong information, but for me this is the most ignorant response someone can make for a variety of reasons:

1. It implies that I'm "right" to make them "wrong", or that someone can "win".

-This is simply untrue for me, when I am proven wrong I am thankful to whoever argued with me and provided evidence, because now I have a better understanding of the topic. Being wrong can feel just as good as being right because you know better next time.

2. It's an excuse to end the debate without resolution.

-Like an unfinished sentence, this really get's on my

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nerves.

3. If something can resolve with both parties saying their opinions / knowledge doesn't matter, than maybe it wasn't worth arguing about in the first place? Yet, why would an argument start if someone didn't feel strongly about it?

-The only possible reason I can see here is that for some people debates are a healthy way to practice and sharpen their skills in logic and reason, at which point there should be no hostility anyway.

4. If the debate is on something that can be objectively proven, this is an excuse to avoid correction.

-At least for me, the idea that I could be spreading lies is far more upsetting than being proven wrong in even the most embarrassing of ways (and I'm saying that as someone who had been mocked by an entire classroom of students, including the teacher, a few times for my mistakes growing up).

So, I am of course over-simplifying the types of debates here, because there are things that are ultimately subjective/personal that cannot be supplied with scientific evidence and don't count in this rant.

However, if there's anything that is factual, scientific, or mathematical, I love to share what I know and be told something new even if that disproves what I previously believed.

I usually don't try to start debates when I provide a helpful tip or fact in a conversation with family or friends, but they quickly react aggressively to assert that they are right even after the evidence says otherwise, only to end the conversation on this tired line: "You don't always have to be right!".

I've talked with a few people who shared the same frustrations in the past, and aside from venting nothing changes for them or me, and it's getting hard to hold back from saying "Well you don't always have to be wrong, either!".