Argument Analysis

No two minds think alike , they say . Two people having been born and raised by different families , inculcating in them different cultures and beliefs , molding them to become two unique individuals , most likely to become adversaries of each other in a heated argument about who is a better president , Obama or McCain . There are so many differences , so many issues to tackle , and many s to cover that engaging oneself in an argument is inevitable in one 's lifetime

Deborah Tannen 's article entitled The Triumph of the Yell , published in the

New York Times on January 14 , 1994 , tried to evaluate how people are inclined to escalate from a mere exchange of opinions and ideas to a war aged against each other , in a battle hoping to disprove the opponent and triumph as the winner possessing the truth , and people who want to participate take sides immediately , forming what you now call a fight She claims that the reason behind such an act roots from our culture of critique that is apparently stifling us . Such tendencies of people are caused by a belief that opposing a statement will lead to the truth , she adds . I try to look at it and visualize the bigger picture I see a fight as a normal part of a person 's emotional and moral growth . At least this person is not apathetic , this person tries to prove a point and sticks to it no matter what . It 's a survival instinct man cannot do without

Tannen further elaborates by saying that fights have winners and losers and in the desire to win he or she tends to let his angry emotions take over , and he therefore overlooks what his adversary is saying , sometimes he does not even try to understand it . What one does is to find loopholes and flaws in his rival 's statements and use these against him Opponents also tend to present facts that are only relevant to their side of the coin , and will even lie if necessary , to which Tannen supplements by saying that lying is an already accepted arguing style because people believe that they can tell whether or not a person is lying . But studies about this prove otherwise

The term , culture of critique , that Tannen coined is based on the belief that truth is revealed when one is contested . Isn 't it that for a person to tell us what the truth is , we insist on the opposite ? But she completely disagrees with this . In reality , the truth is a complex middle , and what happens in most cases is that instead of a rational calm verbal sparring , people tend to fight in such a way that they put on a show by presenting the most extreme arguments . Humans love this the emotional exchange of what each person believes is true , it just ignites something inside every audience that makes them want to join in the argument as well . The opposition of the statement paved the...