Logic vs emotion. Where the idea of simply connecting the dots of reality is distorted, smothered and stepped on by emotion. I’ve been in a number of conversations with people who simply cannot comprehend logic. This is something I’m dumping out into words simply because it’s alarming. I’ve been in debates with people where I was backed into the wall, using every analogy I could think of to assist someone in understanding the logic of something, and they still continued to side-step, move the goal post and lack comprehension. I’ve had moments where multiple people were emotionally arguing my points and there was absolutely nothing of logic involved on their end, pure emotion.
It’s not that some people simply can’t connect the dots logically, but they don’t understand what logic actually is. I’ve had people get enraged at me for explaining facts and logic. Let that sink in here…they are mad at me for giving facts. Imagine being mad at a fact? Do people honestly believe that reality somehow feels pain? Do people honestly believe that logic has empathy? Logic is factual and abstract. It’s not a human. It’s not a creature with a mind. It’s simply connecting the dots of reality.
I firmly believe it’s important for every human being to study logic. Study what fallacies are. They are so vital to human progress. The number of sheer fallacies that are dumped on me in some debates has had me flabbergasted. What makes me anxious, is that people who argue for something, distort logic and genuinely feel they have a point? They honestly believe that what they say is true? The less of this that occurs the more we will progress as a society. Emotion truly is a dagger into the heart of societal growth.
How to Debate
If you have a point or idea to push, simply go into a debate hyper-focused on your logic. Imagine logic as being a string that ties your ideas together. This string is everything to your point. You are walking on this string. You have to obsessively focus on this little string, or you’ll fall off. If you say anything personal to the other person, use your credentials, become disingenuous to the others’ ideas, jump to conclusions etc… you jump off this little line and lose. You have to obsessively pay attention to your little thin line at all times. This is vital.
So many people go into arguments with a little thin line and are hopping off before they begin. They lose before the debate even goes anywhere. What’s worse is they don’t even recognize that they are not anywhere near their line, they are instead running around it, thinking they’re right. How unfortunate that reality disagrees with them?
So many people go into debates, already with a set world view and biases to where every opposing idea is immediately morphed into their worldview. They already have subjective biases to objective ideas. Let go of your worldview and biases just for a short time. This will radically assist you.
Analogous examples
One tactic I love to use is analogies and examples to help people comprehend my logic. As great a tool as this can be, I find it to be counter-productive at times. Analogous words or examples are only to assist in proving a logical point. Imagine with me that I have a photo of a beautiful forest with a blue bird in it. You look at this photo and are failing to see the blue bird. What do I do? I grab another photo with a blue bird in it. This other photo isn’t a forest though. It’s instead an ocean, but there is a little blue bird in it. Instead of you seeing the blue bird in front of the ocean, you begin to obsess over the ocean. You question the color of the sand. You see a fish and ask what it is. You look at everything except what I wanted you to look for. This only adds more confusion to me attempting to show my logic. This happens to me all the time. When people begin to lose thought into the actual analogy instead of the logic itself. It takes a truly aware individual to not overthink into analogies, to actual pay attention to the purpose of the analogy and not be consumed by the details. My advice? Make sure the analogy is as basic as possible.
Emotion self-Control
If you have even the slightest ounce of emotion before a debate, don’t even start. That seemingly insignificant emotion you hold will engulf into massive flames in only a matter of time. All it takes is one opposing thought to light that fire. One ad-hominem attack from your objector to make you jump off the edge of rationale. It happens to the best of us. In fact, I’d say if you go into a debate calm, you must be obsessively mindful of your emotions. They tend to explode rapidly when in argumentation. Then you find yourself losing focus, being illogical and tossing ridiculous fallacies at them, like personal attacks. The reality is emotion is the single greatest enemy to your success in a debate. It really is you vs you.
Conclusion
We all have our own subjective opinions and worldview. We all have tremendously unique minds that think differently. We all look at the same physical realities from different perspectives. My attractions are not your attractions. The list goes on and on. With all this being said, logic doesn’t care about my opinion or yours. It only cares specifically about reality for what it is. Logic set in stone, and we can only discuss it, not change it. If you want to truly be on the winning end of this existence always follow logic. Know what fallacies are. Fallacies are illogical concepts that people do in debate, thus making their points invalid. Knowing these fallacies (strawman, ad-hominin, slippery-slope, causation etc…) will allow you to be aware of logical bumps, thus creating a firmer case for your logic. In some debates simply sitting back and allowing your opposer to beat themselves is best. The number of fallacies the average individual produces should be sufficient enough for you to make more sense by simply calling them out. They won’t like it, but again logic and reality stiff-arm opinions.
If you believe something based off logic, be good at telling it. Excel at it. Good ideas are desired for societal growth. Debating is healthy for a growing society. Healthy debate, with no emotion, is a beautiful thing.
-Jarom
NO ATTACHMENT IS FREEDOM 