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Most people are bad at arguing. These 2 techniques will make you better.
Difficult to convince
It can feel impossible to persuade someone with strong views. This is in part because we look for information to confirm what we already know and avoid or dismiss facts that are opposed to our core beliefs.
However, it is not impossible to sway someone.
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What resonates with your opponent
We all tend to overrate the power of arguments we find convincing, and wrongly think the other side will be converted. It is pointless to argue a point that your opponents have already dismissed.
The answer is not to simply expose people to another point of view. Find out what resonates with them. Frame your message with buzzwords that reflect their values.
Use moral framing
To try and sway the other side, use their morals against them. People have stable morals that influence their worldview.
However, reframing in terms of values might not turn your opponent's view, but can soften his stance and get him to listen to counterarguments.
Listen
Your ideological opponents want to feel like they've been heard. The key is to let the opposition do most of the talking.
People learn lessons better when they come to the conclusion themselves. Listen to people, get them to think about their own experience, and highlight your common humanity. Letting them talk opens the door to reducing prejudice and changing opinions.
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Win the black belt in political argument
- People think emotionally, so forget facts.
- When people are asked to explain their beliefs about how a given thing works, they’ll actually become less confident...
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Our culture of work
Our culture claims that work is unavoidable and natural. The idea that the world can be freed from work, wholly or in part, has been suppressed for as long as capitalism has existed.
Exploring the abolition of work
- In 1885, socialist William Morris proposed that in the factories of the future, employees should work only four hours a day.
- In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that advances in technology would lead to an age of leisure where people might work 15 hours a week.
- Since the early 2010s, these ideas have been developed further, creating a growing critique of work as an ideology, and exploring alternatives to work.
- Post-work offers enormous promises: In a life of much less work, life would be calmer, more equal, more communal, more pleasurable, more thoughtful, more politically engaged, more fulfilled.
Work ideology
The work ideology is not natural nor very old.
- Before the modern era, all cultures thought of work as a means to an end, not an end in itself.
- Once the modern work ethic was established, working patterns started to shift. Between 1800 and 1900, the average working week shrank from 80 hours to 60 hours, and in the 1970s to roughly 40 hours.
- In 1979, Bernard Lefkowitz related in his book that people who had given up their jobs reported feelings of "wholeness." During the same period, because wages were high enough, it became possible for most people to work less.
- During the 80s, work ideology was reimposed by aggressively pro-business governments who were motivated by a desire for social control.
- By the early 21st century, the work culture seems inescapable.
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Analogy
An analogy is a comparison that asserts a parallel between two distinct things, based on the perception of a shared property.
Analogies appear in metaphors, similes, political...
An analogy is a tool
Analogies are arguments that operate unnoticed. Like icebergs, they conceal most of their mass and power beneath the surface.
Analogies are also used in innovation and decision making. For instance, the "bicycle for the mind” that Steve Jobs envisioned as a Macintosh computer.
The importance of a good analogy
Using analogies help us to communicate effectively. For example, Warren Buffett noted "You never know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out,” meaning when times are bad, hidden weaknesses are exposed.
Lack of awareness of an analogy's influence can come at a cost. The ability to construct a good analogy can help you reach your outcomes.
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