If you put on any so-called ‘discussion’ show over the last decade or so you would have heard a level of discourse that sounds like you put two people with opposing views in recording chambers and told them to state their case without supporting data other than the other side are idiots, pretend to listen for 30 seconds occasionally and then talk over the other person saying pretty much that they are an idiot with idiotic ideas but that is what you’d expect from such idiotic people.
In other words, whatever avenues for thoughtful discourse existed when I was younger seem to have dried up, and our children have learned that the way to ‘win’ a debate is not to be like William F. Buckley, sitting quietly with loads of thoughtful arguments and details and respect for the other side as you decimate them, but instead by shouting louder and making ad hominem remarks and disallowing reasoned arguments.
So sometimes it is nice to have such a simple tool to understand when it simply is impossible to have a discussion with someone – and possibly to remind folks of what it actually means to have a discussion. This flow-chart from ThoughtCatalog provides a nice sanity check for the next time you are ready for that political discussion on an internet forum …
Source: ThoughtCatalog via Geekdad