The Art of Debating Opinions

It came to me as I scanned my Facebook feed with one eye open, reading post after post describing oppression in the Middle East, corruption in politics, and the latest environmental disaster; I’ve been out of the loop. (Well, if you count cutting Internet research from 7 to 2 hours as out of the loop.)

As an information junkie, I read plenty of stories that sound like bullshit until I see the source. After awhile, fact and fiction begin to blur and those pesky Conspiracy Theories make their way into my newsfeeds. When I start finding reason in these theories, I must force myself to disengage before I complete a tin foil casing for my computer. After 6 months of unforgiving research, I felt it was time to take up drinking as my main hobby.

After a mere two weeks of being “out of the loop,” in a moment of vodka-soaked shame, I realized while debating politics with friends that night, I contributed a little too much to the conversation. The problem is, even when I stop hardcore research, I still bombard myself with world news via Facebook, which can result in an inflated confidence in my opinions. I may go “off the grid,” but only in the sense that I have a relative idea of what is going on, instead of a full, clear picture of current events.

During the conversation, I found myself praying no one would say the one thing that would derail my argument. I knew the bare minimum of facts of the topic at hand, but not enough to place myself in the role of subject matter expert, but why would that stop me?

That night, my drunken ego took the intellectual wheel. I didn’t care that all my facts weren’t in order; I wanted to state my opinion, dammit! And I did. (In a sober discussion, if I don’t think I know the majority of the facts, I try to mostly listen.)

Call it a mental OCD, but it physically hurts me when I hear wrong or twisted information passed along, so I was quite ashamed of myself that night.  I didn’t flat out lie to anyone, but I knew there were arguments that deflated mine, which I chose to ignore. In my world, not telling the whole truth is the worst kind of sin.

I didn’t beat myself up too badly though. I know I read more news than most, and like everyone else in the world, I’m allowed a night of arrogance amongst friends.

As these ideas mingled with the alcohol, I began to question the way we debate and gather information. Eventually, I had thought: why do so many learn enough to form an opinion but never read far enough to have a debate?

Sometimes, it is embarrassing how little people know. Half the time I debate someone, it sounds like they formed a cult around a belief after reading half an article. There have been points in group discussions where I came to an opponent’s rescue because they were being verbally gang raped. Where do people find such confidence in an idea they know so little about? (See title of blog.)

We really have no excuse. Everything we could ever want to know is at our fingertips, but we are a spoiled bunch and don’t like to do the work. This intellectual laziness is not what really gets under my skin though; it’s that individuals choose to be ignorant and spread this around.

Even with the amazing resources readily available today, many people fail to use them. How many times have we all been in a heated debate with friends, and instead of picking up a smartphone to fact check, everyone continues to scream why the other side is wrong?  

These days, everyone has an opinion that often sounds fueled by fabricated sources. Ultimately, one of these half-truths will morph into a group’s full truth, and once lit, the brush fire quickly spreads out of control. Ideas are infectious, but opinions can be cancerous.

No one is above this either. There are so many outlets by which we are manipulated. Whether it is the media, politicians, friends, or the drunk guy at the bar; someone will eventually implant a distorted view in a mind that may end up in a sad game of misinformation telephone.

Mistakes are okay; no one can know everything about everything, but if you haven’t educated yourself beyond hearsay, shut up. It is great to get swept up in a passionate debate, but it feels like most of our conversations are one sided. We want so badly for the world to pay attention to what we have to say, we forget to listen and in the process, can unintentionally begin a rumor instead of stating facts.

I have come to the realization that most people aren’t as stupid as the Internet lets on. I’ve learned when I shut my mouth, I can learn from even the craziest of liberals or conservatives, even when I don’t agree with their views.

This was merely an observation of how we tend quickly jump on board with an opinion simply because it aligns with a set of beliefs we have. I don’t know if it is because we think we are above fact checking, or that we assume an opponent is stupid, or a combination of both; but I see it with everyone. Maybe the answer is to replace our thirst for violent, verbal debate (which is always so much more exciting) with one for true intellectual debate. But this involves research, no name calling, cross-referencing, and listening, so I doubt it will happen any time soon.

This is one of the disadvantages of wine:  it makes a man mistake words for thought.  ~Samuel Johnson