1. Pick your battles (sniper rifle, not shotgun)2. Anecdotes illustrate, they do not prove.3. Don’t fight your opponent, walk with your partner.4. Be succinct.5. Think skin, big heart.6. Look for common ground.7. Be open to learn.

Communication

Research papersTechnical writing

OpedsVideos

Blog postsComments

Argument is Surgery, Not War.

“…(capitalism) seems to reward not virtue as much as the ability to manipulate the system”

“…(capitalism) seems to reward not virtue as much as the ability to manipulate the system”

“Do (leaders) choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout?”

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

Wrongly attacking the speakerJust the kind of response I’d expect from a libtard. Go read some economics.

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

Rightly attacking the speakerTalk about lack of humility! Friedman has a Ph.D. in economics and a Nobel prize, but you’re claiming that you know more about his subject than he does.

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

Muddying the discussion by addressing an irrelevant pointYour analogy is weak. People in a church aren’t looking to commit murder.

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

Muddying the discussion by adding a relevant pointThere is no confusion here. The purpose of economics is to explain human behavior. Whether humans are motivated by dollars or by virtue doesn’t matter. The outcome may be different, but the underlying economics is the same.

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

ParseAn economic system can’t be virtuous.

Comment“Searching for virtue in an economic system is like searching for a reason to kill in a church....why confuse economics with its real purpose? These guys both suffer from drunken brain fairies and a profound lack of humility.”

ParseAn economic system can’t be virtuous.

Co-opt the speaker’s core argumentYou are correct. Virtue resides in people, so an economic system cannot be virtuous. But for the same reason, neither can a political system.

Anecdotes Don’t Prove, But They Do Illustrate.

Comment“I personally know people who had to choose between paying for heat and eating. Increasing the minimum wage prevented them from starving.”

Comment“I personally know people who had to choose between paying for heat and eating. Increasing the minimum wage prevented them from starving.”

Losing the listener by switching to principleWhen the price of something rises, people buy less of it. That includes labor. Raising the minimum wage means employers will lay off workers and then there will be more, not fewer, people like your friend.

Comment“I personally know people who had to choose between paying for heat and eating. Increasing the minimum wage prevented them from starving.”

Admit the truth and present a counter-anecdoteYou are absolutely right. There are a lot of people who are living on the edge of starvation for whom the minimum wage is a godsend.

But there are also people like the Matthews brothers…

Comment“Many other first world countries have some combination of the following: free education, free healthcare, a high minimum wage, a social welfare safety net...These are universally a good thing.”

Comment“Many other first world countries have some combination of the following: free education, free healthcare, a high minimum wage, a social welfare safety net...These are universally a good thing.”

Don’t deny the anecdoteNo, they aren’t universally good. People have different desires. Some people would thrive in a trade school will be forced into college. Healthy people may not want as much insurance as the government forces on them.

Comment“Many other first world countries have some combination of the following: free education, free healthcare, a high minimum wage, a social welfare safety net...These are universally a good thing.”

Deny the lesson drawn from the anecdoteYes, these things are universally good and every society would be better off if had them. The problem is that they don’t exist.

Thoughts are Food.Words are Spice.

30 wordsDifferent cultures may view smoking differently and, if some ethnicities are more accepting of smoking, then that acceptance will be reflected in a higher rate of smoking for that ethnicity.

30 wordsDifferent cultures may view smoking differently and, if some ethnicities are more accepting of smoking, then that acceptance will be reflected in a higher rate of smoking for that ethnicity.

12 wordsEthnicities that are more accepting of smoking will experience higher smoking rates.

30 wordsDifferent cultures may view smoking differently and, if some ethnicities are more accepting of smoking, then that acceptance will be reflected in a higher rate of smoking for that ethnicity.

5 wordsSmoking rates vary by ethnicity.

12 wordsEthnicities that are more accepting of smoking will experience higher smoking rates.

Mayor tells citizens to find jobs that pay $13 per hour or they may not work.

Engaging in commerce doesn’t impart an understanding of economics any more than engaging in sex imparts an understanding of genetics.

Be thoughtful and polite, no matter what vitriol people spew at you.

The person opposite you is not the enemy. He is a friend who doesn’t know he’s a friend.

The enemy is ignorance.

Be thoughtful and polite, no matter what vitriol people spew at you.

Your audience is not the person to whom you are speaking. It is all those who are or will be listening.