Second wave of Covid has left us restless and agitated. One topic is hot and perennial - Modi vs Virodhi . All WA groups - college, office, society & family are infected with this new living organism. A virtual Covid complication. WA is bombarded with opinions, data points, judgments. Everyone has up the ante in the quest to win over other.
There are few basic principles for a healthy and meaningful debate.
One- Respect and like a point of view that is opposite to yours. Well this is against instinct. But try if you want to enjoy a debate. Typically debate starts with agitated frame of mind and leave you agitated. A sign of poor debate and poor temperament of participants.
Second - No Whataboutery please. In absence of solid argument whataboutery starts. Park it in such situations, digression wont help. Stick to the core point only. Typically since you have up the ante so you drift the debate to where you have a better chance of winning. Another poor sign of a debate.
Third - Don't get personal. Absolute no no. These debates are not about you or he or she or they. Typically it starts somewhere but in 3 to 4 steps it knocks your door. It's a generic subject keep it generic. Don't bring you, me, he , she or they. A most abused approach - Someone supports Modi - You are Bhakt. If someone criticizes Modi - You belong to Pappu. Well such debates can be hilarious and enjoyable too so long as you can remain dispassionate.
Four - Confirmation Bias. Everyone in the debate has strong conformation bias. Confirmation bias is an interesting phenomena. You reinforce your believe by reading and focusing only on those materials, data points which are suitable to your exiting believe. The data, material, article are available in abundance supporting every kind of possible believe, theory, hypothesis. So one can support any opinion by picking those suitable data points. Hence these debate by virtue of their nature are not suppose to converge.
Fift- Finally it's just a WA debate/discussions. It's not parliament and you are not parliamentarian. You wont need to pass a bill after the debate. Stop worrying about winning the argument.
If you can follow above you can enjoy debate and broaden your horizon or understanding. Dont surrender your feelings and expressions by not picking up a topic that can lead to animosity, instead follow above and strengthen you temperament and express freely. Jazbatoon ko Kabu mein karo aur khul ke ziyo
Stay resilient mentally and physically. This time shall pass too.
No comments:
Post a Comment