My dad grew up with 2 brothers. He felt very prepared when my two older brothers came along. But when I came into the picture I don’t think he quite knew what to do with me and honestly on most days still doesn’t.
One of the constant phrases coming out of his mouth is “Do you every stop talking?!” My friends tend to agree with him. 7/10 would describe me as being an argumentative person. They say it doesn’t matter the subject I always find a way to argue about it. Now I’m not saying they are wrong…. but I do view it a bit differently. It’s not that I’m arguing, but looking at the topic from a different view point. It feels like people are used to sticking to what they believe, they never consider the other side of the conversation.
Opinions are formed based off of our experiences and personal biases, which differ from other people’s. Our access to the internet is making it easier and easier to stay inside our own way of thinking. The article Information diet talks about how our filter for news is becoming more smaller and smaller. No one wants to hear that they are wrong, so why spend to look for a contradictory view point when there are so many other people or articles that agree with you?
That’s the thing about debating, you’re just going to get people more entrenched in the view they had in the first place.
Oscar Martinez from The Office
This is what makes me so incredibly frustrated! It’s ok to be wrong. It’s not ok to stick your head in the sand and ignore the other side of the argument! That doesn’t push our thinking and understanding. Sticking to one side of the argument is the equivalent to laying on the couch TV all day everyday. Sure, it’s easy and convenient but it doesn’t push you. Only by exercising those muscles does your body flourish. We need to continue to challenge our minds just like we challenge our bodies( Nicholas Carr, 2010 )
So that’s the ultimate challenge isn’t it? How do we convince people to question the world around them. But questioning means you admitting you don’t understand, which would tend to hurt a lot of people’s pride (Berger, 2014). Yikes, talk about a wicked problem.
It starts with ourselves. The article Politics of Print talks about how most people are receiving their information digitally, but are often only skimming what they are reading. So when we are receiving our news making sure we are reading the whole article, not just jumping to conclusions based off of some of the information. We also need to recognize we are all humans who come with our own biases. So when we are getting our news, check multiple sources. It’s tempting to read one article and claim you have an understanding on what’s happening. But if you’ve ever mediated an elementary school disagreement at recess, you know there is always more to the story than how it is initially presented.
It’s hard to explain to my friends that the intention is not to argue, but to further the conversation. We don’t get anywhere if we all agree, and frankly what fun is that? Continuing to question and challenge is what makes us grow as people. So if this means I stay the argumentative friend then I will take that title with pride.
References:
Berger, W. (2014). A More Beautiful Question. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Weller, J. (2017, November 12). The politics of print and why we need it. Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-politics-of-print-why-we-need-it_us_5a0904fee4b0ee8ec36942eb
More than Colored Pencils and Crayons 