How NOT to Argue/Tuesday urm, Wednesday Linkfest

(Yeh, I wrote two linkfest posts in advance and sceduled them for publication ahead of time… scheduling them wrong. So, yesterday’s was today’s and today’s was yesterday’s… sorta. 🙂 Glad I caught it so late, eh?)

I constantly run across folks who have no earthly clue how to argue. First, there are those to whom “argue” means loud, highly-emotive rants, with absolutely no rational content. Then there are those who think of argument as something that is to be “won” by any means, including lies, deception, manipulation, misdirection, etc. Then there are those who seem to think that snarky sniping with a quick exit (“I’m not listening to you!”/”Talk to the hand” etc.) constitutes an argument. Among the worst techniques of fake argument? Reacting with whines and tears that facts and reason just aren’t fair! Piffle. Pathetic piffle.

None of those kinds of arguments make the least positive impression on me. In fact, all those kinds of irrational fakeries demonstrate to me is that those who engage in them are insecure, often stupid and always lying–to themselves, if no one else.

Sad.

An argument ought to consist of facts linked with rational commentary. It must be responsive to counter argument, not making stupid non causa comments, for example. It can be gentle and kind or (when gentle and kind do not work or are responded to with lies, misdirection, etc.) it can ramp up all the way to shouting down an idiot–all the while using facts and reason, just perhaps more loudly than is generally–and wrongly–considered “polite”.

You see, politeness when dealing with self-deceptive idiots only goes so far. Sometimes one really does need to whack the metaphorical mule upside the head with a 2X4 to get its attention (and other times, the 2X4 seems to need to be loaded with a nucear payload *sigh*). And politeness that allows lies to continue unconfronted is nothing but cowardice cloaked in a deceptive layer of social acceptability: sugar-coated cyanide, if you will. For if one refuses to speak the truth for fear of bruising an idiot’s (or liar’s or lying idiot’s) po’ widdle feewngs and appearing in the eyes of “polite” society to be brutish (for speaking truth too plainly), then all one is doing is contributing to the lie.

And that, my friends, is called … politics in its best sense. *sigh*

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