Culture of Argument

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘Frame of Mind’ from the book titled ‘Think Again – The Power of Knowing What you don’t know’ by Adam Grant. In this episode we drew attention to the fact that being a scientist is not just a profession. It’s a frame of mind, a mode of thinking that differs from preaching, prosecuting, and politicking and like scientist, business executives while taking some important business decisions take their time so they have the flexibility to change their minds. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘Culture of Argument’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen, a distinguished university professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. This book is about a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach public dialogue, and just about anything we need to accomplish, as if it were a fight. It gives us new ways of resolving our differences and uncovering the honest truth. Culture of Argument The argument culture urges us to approach the world and the people in it, in an adversarial frame of mind. It rests on the assumption that opposition is the best way to get anything done: The best way to discuss an idea is to set up a debate; the best way to cover news is to find spokespeople who express the most extreme, polarized views and present them as “both sides”; the best way to settle disputes is litigation that pits one party against the other; the best way to begin an essay is to attack someone; and the best way to show you’re really thinking is to criticize. Our public interactions have become more and more like having an argument with a spouse. Conflict can’t be avoided in our public lives any more than we can avoid conflict with people we love. One of the great strengths of our society is that we can express these conflicts openly. But just as spouses have to learn ways of settling their differences without inflicting real damage on each other, so we, as a society, have to find constructive ways of resolving disputes and differences. Public discourse requires making an argument for a point of view, not having an argument as in having a fight. Excerpt from ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book thought provoking, to read brief overview you can click on the following link and subsequently buy your copy too: https://www.deborahtannen.com/the-argument-culture Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!