Opinions; everybody's got one
John Balchak
Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Opinion
Next time some well established "adult" looks down their nose at you, ask them, "So when are you going to sell your house and use the money to pay YOUR debt to OUR U.S. Treasury?"
But, before we descend into childish finger pointing, let's review some strategies. One good idea is to try and use language and inflection to raise the discourse up to your level before the opposition can drag you down to theirs. Always try to elevate the lowest common denominator to make the other side look like savages.
Those who espouse pure hate (Westboro Baptist Church) should be politely ignored - there will always be a tiny number of the deranged who cannot be reasoned with. Once on higher ground, try to redefine the words of your opponent, that way you don't have to think up so many of your own. Remember, a good debater can take either side of an argument and be successful.
So who's right and who's wrong? If we knew that we'd stop reading the paper altogether. One of the keys is memory, deciding which events to use as examples and which to disregard. If we spend all our time keeping score, we'll never make any progress. The winner is human discourse and its vague, infinite, nebulous search for "the truth" as defined by each individual.
But, before we descend into childish finger pointing, let's review some strategies. One good idea is to try and use language and inflection to raise the discourse up to your level before the opposition can drag you down to theirs. Always try to elevate the lowest common denominator to make the other side look like savages.
Those who espouse pure hate (Westboro Baptist Church) should be politely ignored - there will always be a tiny number of the deranged who cannot be reasoned with. Once on higher ground, try to redefine the words of your opponent, that way you don't have to think up so many of your own. Remember, a good debater can take either side of an argument and be successful.
So who's right and who's wrong? If we knew that we'd stop reading the paper altogether. One of the keys is memory, deciding which events to use as examples and which to disregard. If we spend all our time keeping score, we'll never make any progress. The winner is human discourse and its vague, infinite, nebulous search for "the truth" as defined by each individual.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
J Balchak
posted 11/11/09 @ 1:47 PM PST
"Opinions are like ass#@!%s, everybody's got one." should have been the first line of this piece.
For a more enlightened view on this topic please see. (Continued…)
online assignments
posted 11/26/09 @ 9:09 PM PST
So many minds, so many opinions.
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