We have this phrase:
“WIN AN ARGUMENT”
it betrays everything wrong with the way we discourse
You don’t win an argument.
The argument is already won before it even begun
Your role is to reveal that result
The argument is already won because the truth already exists
You don’t “win” the truth, you don’t create the truth — you discover the truth… and then you know the truth
Mind you — often neither side of the argument is anywhere near the truth
Often neither side discerns between the certain, the proved, the irrefutable — and the plausible, the likely, the convincing
Such argument is lost, if you will, before it begun
None of you have access to the truth — therefore none of you will reveal it
And it’s pointless too, before it even begun
But if you know something — it’s not your role to “win arguments”, to convince anyone…
Your role is to convey that truth
The truth doesn’t need your adornment
But it does require you to present it as clearly, as cogently as possible
Eloquence will benefit you in that task — not in order to bedazzle anyone — but in order for the essence to be more smoothly, more fluently transmitted
Instead we try to “win arguments”.
First you win arguments with others — then you win arguments with your own self.
You start believing your own eloquent nonsense.
You learn your lesson in life that you can bullshit your way through it,
You look at your leaders, your politicians — they all mastered the rhetoric of bullshit
But I’m yet to meet a bullshitter who doesn’t eventually fall victim to his own bullshit
Don’t win arguments
Always speak the truth
Convey the truth
Become the defender of the truth
Become an effective communicator — so that you can communicate it
This is all you must know
It will save you from million stupid quarrels,
It will save you from the utmost perils of self-delusion
It will save you from epistemic arrogance (illusion of knowing — because you convinced yourself that you did have a clue)
It will save you from people eventually abandoning you like a sinking ship — knowing they can’t trust you
It will save you from utter breakdown — the moment you find out you yourself can’t trust you — because your word is bullshit
Don’t win arguments