I “lost” an argument this week to someone who must have used this as his handbook. His attack was a disjoint blend of Histrionics (“Use emotion . . . Sound indignant, outraged, self-righteous, passionate, ‘courageous’, ‘defiant'”) and Moral One-upmanship (“If people disagree with you, accuse them of Eurocentrism or elitism or intolerance or narrowness or conventional thinking or scientism or homophobia”). And then, the coup de grace:
Claiming is Succeeding: Blur the distinction between claiming to make your case, and actually making it.
At that point, I started to wonder what on earth I was doing, wasting my time. lol
Oh, I also realized how much I appreciate the clear and honest minds I’ve encountered since I’ve begun blogging. Thanks, you guys.
I used to enjoy regular interactions with a fine fellow who believed in the Bible as a literal document. If he had chosen faith as his defense, I would have been routed at every turn. Instead he followed the code you described above. I can’t say he ever won a point, but he would say he never lost one… how strange, years later, to see him described so perfectly on your blog.
Are you saying, Mark, “He Lives”?
:-D
(Thanks for stopping by! I’ve just looked at your blog & I’m going to link it, too, so I remember to go back :-))