41 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
41 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
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<p>I was recently having a conversation at a youth group, and one of the
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questions was on what sin we had a difficult time understanding as a sin. A few
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interesting ideas were brought up, such as suicide (due to lack of culpability
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often resulting from poor mental health) and private criticism. It was during
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this forum that I brought up my difficulty with the notion of intellectual
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property. As anyone who has even been skeptical of the common perception of
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intellectual property will know, the immediate reaction I got, the one I've
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heard over, and over, and over again, is "Somebody worked hard on it!"</p>
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<p>If I had wanted to be rude, I could've responded "You don't say? I've
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<em>never</em> heard that argument before!" in a very sarcastic tone - I did
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not - for this is an argument I've heard a million times, and anyone who has
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even lightly discussed the topic has heard it already. In a way, it would seem
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rather naïve to me to assume that someone who is saying they have difficulty
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understanding a certain topic has not already heard the most rudimentary and
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simplistic counter-argument, and therefore assuming I wouldn't already have a
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response for such a simple argument. Rather than encouraging me to change my
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mind, it does the exact opposite which is to make it seem - thought it may be
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untrue - that the other side has no real arguments for their position other than
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the most obvious and simplistic one that I can already rebut. It is this, or
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there are better arguments, but this person is underestimating my
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intelligence - this is not the case, the woman who made this comment to me is
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very nice.</p>
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<p>The reason I bring this up isn't (necessarily) to rant about one of my pet
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peeves - giving me stupid arguments that I've already heard a million times -
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but rather to point out that making these kinds of arguments not only annoys me,
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but is also counter-productive. To give an example, this is like someone arguing
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for God's existence saying "But things are complex, and therefore intelligent
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design!" It's so simplistic it sounds stupid, even if you agree with the point
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they're trying to make you can tell it's a poor argument. You're not going to
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convince them by giving the same argument you'd give to a child, unlike children
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adults can understand complex abstract concepts.</p>
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<p>As such, perhaps the best first step when we're trying to enter into a
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productive conversation isn't to immediately throw out arguments, but rather to
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ask <em>why</em> they disagree or have difficulty with a given topic. In this
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manner, you neither go over their heads assuming they're credited philosophers,
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nor do you insult their intelligence by assuming they've never even heard the
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most basic arguments before.</p>
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