I don’t really argue much any more. Or debate tbh.
If I’m confident I’m correct about a subject, it’s way less hassle to just shrug and say “okay” and let it go. If I’m right, it’ll prove out over time, and I won’t feel like a jackass for trying to prove I’m right via arguing. If I’m not, then that will too, and I won’t feel like a jackass for trying to convince someone of something via arguing.
Mind you, that all assumes that “argument” implies an attempt to change someone’s mind about something while they try to change yours, whether the exchange is heated or not. Some people don’t use the word like that, and mean more that two people are exchanging insults to some degree or another (which is just a fight to me).
But, back when I was prone to being willing to try and have my facts and/or opinions “win”, I still wasn’t prone to bringing it back up. For one, for me to “lose” an argument when I genuinely felt I was correct in my information meant I had just gotten sick of trying to explain whatever it was in the face of blind, stubborn argumentative people. Because that’s the only time I argued. So I would typically not be willing to engage with them again, and certainly not on the same subject.
Now, a friendly debate? Sure, I’d go back with new information, and present it in a friendly way. I’d do the same if it turned out I was wrong on a point of fact.
But, for real, I learned a long time ago that arguments over opinion are pointless to begin with. They never do anything beneficial for the relationship two people have, friends, family, whatever. It’s only facts that are worth trying to convince someone about. They can form whatever opinion of facts they want, and I’ll be free to decide if that opinion is so bad that I can’t interact with them or not. But the opinion itself? Never worth arguing over imo.
I don’t really argue much any more. Or debate tbh.
If I’m confident I’m correct about a subject, it’s way less hassle to just shrug and say “okay” and let it go. If I’m right, it’ll prove out over time, and I won’t feel like a jackass for trying to prove I’m right via arguing. If I’m not, then that will too, and I won’t feel like a jackass for trying to convince someone of something via arguing.
Mind you, that all assumes that “argument” implies an attempt to change someone’s mind about something while they try to change yours, whether the exchange is heated or not. Some people don’t use the word like that, and mean more that two people are exchanging insults to some degree or another (which is just a fight to me).
But, back when I was prone to being willing to try and have my facts and/or opinions “win”, I still wasn’t prone to bringing it back up. For one, for me to “lose” an argument when I genuinely felt I was correct in my information meant I had just gotten sick of trying to explain whatever it was in the face of blind, stubborn argumentative people. Because that’s the only time I argued. So I would typically not be willing to engage with them again, and certainly not on the same subject.
Now, a friendly debate? Sure, I’d go back with new information, and present it in a friendly way. I’d do the same if it turned out I was wrong on a point of fact.
But, for real, I learned a long time ago that arguments over opinion are pointless to begin with. They never do anything beneficial for the relationship two people have, friends, family, whatever. It’s only facts that are worth trying to convince someone about. They can form whatever opinion of facts they want, and I’ll be free to decide if that opinion is so bad that I can’t interact with them or not. But the opinion itself? Never worth arguing over imo.