Discounting Identity

I recently remarked: “Appealing to your identity is a reason to discount what you say, not a reason to pay extra attention.”  Why do I believe this?

Well, suppose you want to make people agree with you.  You’ve got two main routes.

Offer arguments in favor of your view to change what listeners sincerely think. Make continued disagreement feel uncomfortable so listeners pay you lip service.

Only #1 is epistemically respectable.  But it has a major downside: Good arguments are scarce.  #2 is...