{"id":14912,"date":"2024-05-06T07:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T12:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/?p=14912"},"modified":"2024-05-06T12:13:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:13:00","slug":"how-to-win-every-argument-from-now-on-the-right-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/editorials\/how-to-win-every-argument-from-now-on-the-right-way\/","title":{"rendered":"How to win every argument, the right way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take a look at your Facebook and Twitter feed or the comments on any news post. If there\u2019s one thing it would seem nobody has any trouble with these days, it\u2019s arguing.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s arguing for fun and frustration \u2026 OG\/prequels! Cake\/Pie! Over the roll\/under the roll! Yelling, trolling, poking with a stick.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s ARGUING\u2026 reasoned, productive, and substantive discussions that get you somewhere in the real world.<\/p>\n

No, wait, hear me out!<\/p>\n

More than 10 years ago, tech entrepreneur Paul Graham laid out a \u201chierarchy of disagreement<\/a>,\u201d attempting to sort out the various levels of argument into a tool that could turn those arguments into something useful. Lately \u2013 just in time for 2022\u2019s inevitable fracas, right? \u2013 the infographic makers at Adioma have laid that hierarchy out in a simple visualization that aims to make disagreement simpler to navigate and agreement easier to reach:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Essentially, the easiest arguments to toss out there are the ones you post without a pause. The inflammatory \u201cYOU SUCK\u201d (level 1) and \u201cwhaddaya expect from an over-the-roll bro?\u201d (level 2). The reactionary \u201coh YEAH?\u201d and \u201cwell WHAT ABOUT\u201d (level 4). They add nothing to the discussion, change nobody\u2019s mind, and pretty much keep the hostilities simmering.<\/p>\n

Back in 2008 when he wrote the essay, Graham pointed out \u201ca danger that the increase in disagreement will make people angrier. Particularly online, where it\u2019s easy to say things you\u2019d never say face to face.\u201d Welcome to the Thunderdome. The most innocuous comment can be taken completely the wrong way (level 3), and this toxic shift in tone spills more and more often into offline interactions as well.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s where the real-life benefits to this hierarchy come into play. Leaving Facebook and Twitter and the news comment sections aside \u2013 because let\u2019s face it, all pretty much black holes where reasonable people can be sucked into nothingness<\/a> \u2013 there is value to constructive argument.<\/p>\n

Constructive argument \u2013 levels 5, 6, and 7 \u2013 deals with an issue at hand, not personality. It keeps civility on the table. It allows for back-and-forth, for discussion. Put it to work in the office<\/a>, and it smooths the way in staff interactions and negotiations. Put it to work in the marketplace<\/a>, and it creates stronger client and customer bonds. And yes, put it to work online in a company feed, and it strengthens customer service<\/a> and can even help you build relationships based on respect for your open communication.<\/p>\n

Coming at a disagreement with an eye towards understanding the other point of view and reaching agreement<\/a>, rather than an eye towards scoring easy points, isn\u2019t painless. The years since Graham pointed out the peril of online anger have not been kind to public discourse, and the person you\u2019re arguing with may not be there right away for your empathy and bridge-building.<\/p>\n

But as one of the great (country and) Western philosophers once asked, what would you be if you didn\u2019t even try<\/a>? You\u2019d be stuck down on level 1 of Paul Graham\u2019s pyramid with the trolls and the cranks, that\u2019s what. Level up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have to start an argument then you need the right understanding of what is convincing and what can be dismissed out of hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337721,"featured_media":17297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[1901,253,755,1234],"class_list":["post-14912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","tag-arguing","tag-editorial","tag-negotiation","tag-real-estate-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Freelancers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337721"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14912"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20600,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14912\/revisions\/20600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}