Some people know how to debate, and some people think they know how to debate when all they really know how to do is find a singular weak point in what someone says and poke at that religiously instead of tackling the main idea. That's not the difference between a good debater and a bad debater; that's the difference between a good debater and someone that should have never opened their mouth in the first place because all they really cared about doing was finding a way to make you look stupid rather than finding a way to defend their own idea. And once you start recognizing when it happens and seeing how often some people do it, it really starts to get under your skin.
I'm not talking about a Philosophy 101 situation where someone is building an argument premise by premise and the whole idea crumbles if you shoot one of those premises down. The situation I'm talking about is this: you're explaining a viewpoint you hold to someone, and in the course of doing that you make a statement that is slightly incorrect but it doesn't really matter because it has no real material impact on what you're saying. But in that moment of weakness, the other person sees their opportunity to pounce, and rather than focus on your main idea, they decide to divert the conversation entirely and fight this proxy war. And before you can even respond by saying, "Okay, sure, but that wasn't really my point," they have already claimed victory in their mind because they shot your weakest soldier.
To me, that's a sign of someone that's too insecure to share their own thoughts so they instead make their living in ridiculing those of others. And it's a small-minded thing to do. You learn a lot more by looking for what's right in a conversation rather than what's wrong.
To whoever might be reading this: if you and I ever get into a debate, brilliant. Bring it on. I have great admiration for anyone who knows their crap and can put me in my place in a really clever, insightful way. But don't try to beat me by poking at my weakest point. Don't even engage in the conversation if your only goal is embarrass me for not having an almanac of exact stats and figures downloaded to my brain. Grapple with my biggest ideas, not my smallest missteps.
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