Thursday, October 14, 2010

Civil Arguments

Characteristics of civil arguments include some basic "dos" and "don'ts."

Do:

Strive for clarity.
Listen for areas of agreement.
Keep a civil tone.
Research both sides of the issue.
Acknowledge facts that go against your position.
Recognize that there are issues on which reasonable people can disagree.

Don't:

Ascribe bad motives to the other side.
Assume that the other person is uninformed.
Behave discourteously.
Use straw man arguments.
Distort the other person's position.
Dodge questions.
Become a blind advocate.

2 comments:

Ron said...

All the "don't" are taught as "Do's" in politician school.....and also a class on answering questions based on dodge, deflect, weave, attack, never admit anything, never agree to anything, blame somebody just not you or your party, all this while keeping talking......talk long enough and the question will become irrelevant, tired or just forgotten

Michael Wade said...

Ron,

The campaign consultants got in and messed up the works.

Michael