Clever, but not the Point

Clever but not the point. I find myself saying that more and more when engaged in debate these days and it’s becoming more and more frustrating. I like to engage in debate, particularly with someone whose views differ from mine. I’ve found that this adversarial process is a great way to check my thinking and test the validity of my ideas provided I have an intellectually honest debate partner. But to my great dismay, such individuals are harder and harder to find.

I don’t ever debate for it’s own sake. I don’t see the point anymore. I want to solve a problem or at least move towards solving a problem. Winning a debate services only my ego, nothing else. Too many times, I have found myself in a debate about a substantive issue only to have the opposing party blatantly resort to logic theorems and/or debating tricks. Now these devices certainly have their place but when they are used to primarily gain an advantage, they cheapen the debate.

More often than not, resorting to these very obvious devices is just a clear indicator of a lack of command of the facts. Sure if A = B and B = C then A = C but in the real world, A never equals B and B never C. Different people are different judges of a situation and see it more or less clearly. At a certain level, all of us can think clearly and it’s just a matter of the data we have to work with.

In the blogging world, I see so much of this. Each person trying to outwit the other. To leave the last clever word bomb. I suppose I see the sport in this but I just don’t have the energy for it anymore. I want to talk. I want to engage. I want to vigorously disagree. But I want to do it honestly and without an agenda. So let’s do that. Please engage me. Prove me wrong. Show me where I have made a mistake. And to those of you who already have, particularly the Dumb Ox, I hope you continue to do so. Because we can’t advance our collective thinking if we’re not thinking about the