How to Argue: ‘Play the ball, not the man’

I encourage you to share your thoughts or arguments in the comment section under each blog entry.

As St. Eutychus says, “Play the ball. Not the man.”  (I think a lot of the rest of his comment policy is good advice, too.)  Seriously, I think you should stick to talking about substantive ideas, even if only for totally selfish reasons—if you start insulting people and taking everything personally, it makes you look bad, and makes your arguments sound less reasonable.

RIGHT:

Mr. A:  I don’t think pre-emptive war is ever justified.  How would we like it if Iraq invaded our country?

Last Debate

(Transcript of the debate)

CNN poll says Obama won the debate last night, 48-40.

I was a little disappointed that Romney didn’t criticize Obama more and more directly, but I think it’s clear that Romney decided on a strategy of looking “presidential”.  No doubt President Obama won if the criterion is number of jokes and one-liners, but Romney won if the criterion is substantive arguments and telling the truth.

Mark Steyn points out that even Obama’s jokes were wrong.

I thought the most breathtaking claim Obama made last night was his repeated assertion that he has been a friend to Israel.  With “friends” like this—well, there may not be an Israel much longer.

Ryan Won the Debate

If you missed the vice-presidential debate last night, bear with me for a moment.  Go to the Saturday Night Live parody of MSNBC’s devastated reaction* to last week’s presidential debate and watch from about the 1:45 mark to 2:05.  Transcript:

Parody Matthews:  IT’S ONE THING IF PRESIDENT OBAMA HAD NOTHING TO SAY, BUT WHY WOULD YOU LET GOVERNOR ROMNEY TALK?  HE FORGOT THE FIRST RULE OF DEBATING:  ALWAYS BE INTERRUPTING.  WHEN I DON’T HAVE POINTS TO MAKE ON MY SHOW, I MAKE UP FOR IT BY SCREAMING AT PEOPLE.  THAT’S HOW YOU WIN A DEBATE!

Gallup: Romney Won Debate 72-20

Last week I related that, according to a CNN poll, 67% of people who watched the debate last Wednesday thought Romney won, while only 25% thought Obama won.  Today Gallup reports an even bigger Romney win:

Those who viewed the debate overwhelmingly believe Romney did a better job than Obama, 72% to 20%. Republicans were nearly unanimous in judging Romney the winner. But even Democrats rated Romney as doing a better job than Obama, 49% to 39%.

(Emphasis added.)

As with the CNN poll, I can say again with this one:  Not to put too fine a point on it, Romney did better than anyone else ever:

Romney 1, Obama 0

If you missed the presidential debate last night, you missed a good one!  But if you like, really all you need to know is:

“You’ve been president four years!”

How to Argue, How Not to Argue

Check out this flowchart about how to have a rational discussion.

I don’t entirely agree with the framework it presents; if nothing else, I think it’s sort of too legalistic, if meant literally—but that’s probably intentional, and part of the humor.

In any case, I think it’s pretty great, in that it articulates (and calls out) some of the ways that discussions can fall victim to sloppy thinking, perhaps usually without the participants’ noticing or understanding what’s going on.  

Internet Anonymity

Does Internet anonymity bring out our dark side?

On the radio this morning I heard Lisa Hendey talk about participating in Internet discussions, such as in the comments section on blogs.

She suggested that people seem to feel more free to be a jerk when they know (or think) they have the cover of Internet anonymity.