Just a thought
Unclean
Soon after being transferred to a new duty station, my Marine husband called home one evening to tell me he would be late. "Dirty magazines were discovered in the platoon quarters," he said, "and the whole squad is being disciplined."
I launched into a tirade, arguing that Marines should not be penalized for something so trivial.
My husband interrupted. "Honey, when I said ‘dirty magazines,’ I meant the clips from their rifles hadn’t been cleaned."
-- Millie Courtis
Misunderstandings are at the root of of the world's worst actions. War being the first that comes to mind, one can argue that every war has had some misunderstanding at its root. But not even just large scale, but most small scale confrontations are also simply the effect of some misunderstanding. Hell, I'm betting there are even cases where one could argue a rape happened from a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings between people lead to arguments of futility.
And it is frustrating.
The art of arguing is dying. Somewhere along the line of history, humanity decided that to argue you just need anger and no knowledge. That you just need to prove your own point loudest, hardest, firstest and mostest. This is wrong. You have no idea how many times in life I have overheard miscommunication happen. I almost want to step in and tell each what the other meant, I actually have; I was then looked at with anger. When did everyone get so scared of being wrong that to be proven wrong is taken personally?
The funniest sets of miscommunication are those found between the atheists and creationists (and/or christian fundimentalist). I could say that most of it(a good 95%+) boils down to a misunderstanding of what the other is saying, and not an actual argument of what is being discussed. I think if this argument would actually be discussed fully well without misunderstanding and with consideration, they would come up with a simple point. The religious side would realize that much of convention, tradition, and habit is wrong. And the atheistic side would see that there is a large sphere of knowledge which is unavailable to them. At the same time, the disagreement is simply how to treat this knowledge realm outside of the current capacity of science. The religious would fit their beliefs into this while the atheistic would simply assume it follows from what we already know.
Why is arguing so frowned upon in today's world. With argument ideas become better developed, stronger. If the idea becomes weaker or destroyed then you no longer hold a false idea in your mind. Isn't that better?
I remember an idiotic boy, I wouldn't call him a man, who said to me that he dealt with his issues by talking to people about them. By asking their opinions and discussing his issues-- it was all I could do to not burst out laughing in his face. The boy surrounded himself by yes-friends who would insult any opponent and stand by his side without question. Friends who play devil's advocate usually were among the least trusted, and most recently, the most often discarded.
I was googling art of arguing and found this : http://atlanticherald.com/atlarge/2004/040325_arguing.html
It is well written and should be mandatory reading for most human beings. My favorite quote from it "True harmony is achieved not by suppressing conflict, but by embracing it productively."
I stand by most everything in the article, except for that not crowing over a defeated opponent thing. That's just too much fun to not do.
Soon after being transferred to a new duty station, my Marine husband called home one evening to tell me he would be late. "Dirty magazines were discovered in the platoon quarters," he said, "and the whole squad is being disciplined."
I launched into a tirade, arguing that Marines should not be penalized for something so trivial.
My husband interrupted. "Honey, when I said ‘dirty magazines,’ I meant the clips from their rifles hadn’t been cleaned."
-- Millie Courtis
Misunderstandings are at the root of of the world's worst actions. War being the first that comes to mind, one can argue that every war has had some misunderstanding at its root. But not even just large scale, but most small scale confrontations are also simply the effect of some misunderstanding. Hell, I'm betting there are even cases where one could argue a rape happened from a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings between people lead to arguments of futility.
And it is frustrating.
The art of arguing is dying. Somewhere along the line of history, humanity decided that to argue you just need anger and no knowledge. That you just need to prove your own point loudest, hardest, firstest and mostest. This is wrong. You have no idea how many times in life I have overheard miscommunication happen. I almost want to step in and tell each what the other meant, I actually have; I was then looked at with anger. When did everyone get so scared of being wrong that to be proven wrong is taken personally?
The funniest sets of miscommunication are those found between the atheists and creationists (and/or christian fundimentalist). I could say that most of it(a good 95%+) boils down to a misunderstanding of what the other is saying, and not an actual argument of what is being discussed. I think if this argument would actually be discussed fully well without misunderstanding and with consideration, they would come up with a simple point. The religious side would realize that much of convention, tradition, and habit is wrong. And the atheistic side would see that there is a large sphere of knowledge which is unavailable to them. At the same time, the disagreement is simply how to treat this knowledge realm outside of the current capacity of science. The religious would fit their beliefs into this while the atheistic would simply assume it follows from what we already know.
Why is arguing so frowned upon in today's world. With argument ideas become better developed, stronger. If the idea becomes weaker or destroyed then you no longer hold a false idea in your mind. Isn't that better?
I remember an idiotic boy, I wouldn't call him a man, who said to me that he dealt with his issues by talking to people about them. By asking their opinions and discussing his issues-- it was all I could do to not burst out laughing in his face. The boy surrounded himself by yes-friends who would insult any opponent and stand by his side without question. Friends who play devil's advocate usually were among the least trusted, and most recently, the most often discarded.
I was googling art of arguing and found this : http://atlanticherald.com/atlarge/2004/040325_arguing.html
It is well written and should be mandatory reading for most human beings. My favorite quote from it "True harmony is achieved not by suppressing conflict, but by embracing it productively."
I stand by most everything in the article, except for that not crowing over a defeated opponent thing. That's just too much fun to not do.