As a foreign born American citizen, I can vouch for the fact that Americans have lost the art and practice of argument. That happened a long time ago in our present era. The country was founded on argument by men who were able and willing to express their thoughts. We now live in a country where political correctness rules, restricted to the limits of what can be said as provided by the media and other speech police, to which most Americans submit.
That is pure TYRANNY - and most of us aren't even aware of that fact. We think it's just about being nice. "Can't we just all get along?"
Argument is not yelling at one another. It is presenting coherent thoughts with logic and facts to support your case. Unfortunately, most people have not been trained to process anything more than a phrase or a sentence. They simply cannot process a complete thought. Truly sad, but we must re-train all of us to do so. We have a long way to go, but we must do do!
If the person you’re
arguing with says, “Where’d you get that?” to every study or stat you pull up,
you’re arguing with the wrong person. I used to email the guy I was arguing
with all the pertinent links from our previous discussion, but he’d never
bother to read them. For a while I’d just say, “Wanna bet?” and put
$100 on my hate fact. Now I just leave. I feel the same way about playing pool.
I don’t like playing with someone I distrust to the point where we both have to
call our shots. If the ball went in by accident, you admit it and pass the
turn. If you’re going to pretend you did it on purpose, you’re not the kind of
person I want to play pool with.
That’s what a good argument is. It’s a recreational activity that exercises your mind.
You’re not there to win. In fact, losing makes you
smarter College graduates have been trained to avoid
confrontation so much, they’re actually coming out dumber than when they went in. We face the same fate as a nation if we
don’t start moving past “No, it isn’t.” Let’s collect some statements together
and begin defining propositions. It’s fun.
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