32 lines
2.0 KiB
HTML
32 lines
2.0 KiB
HTML
<p>In my post about the television I mentioned very briefly the issue of
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'small talk'. First, I would like to make it clear that I am not talking
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about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalltalk" target="_blank" >SmallTalk</a>
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language, but rather the social phenomenon where two or more people begin
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a conversation on some of the most pointless and dull topics ever. It's
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always a topic that for the most part <b>everyone can agree with</b> and is
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therefore a <b>pointless conversation</b>. It's always about the weather, who
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won the latest sports event, what popular events are coming up, and (if
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you're Spanish) the most recent corruption scandal. Never any analysis,
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never any discussion, and most of all <b>there should never be
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disagreement!</b> Because for some reason disagreeing on something with
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someone else is 'a bad thing'. I disagree with people all the time, these
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people mostly being my friends! So how are you going to tell me that
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disagreeing with someone on something will make a relationship between two
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people go downhill? I'd rather discuss and disagree with someone on an
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in-depth topic than constantly agree with someone that it's a rainy day
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outside and that the forecast is looking better for next week.</p>
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<p>Of course, I do understand that you can't just go up to someone and start
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talking about Keynesian economics, you have to find out if they have any
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interest in economics first. What I hate is when people start using small
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talk for <b>all</b> their conversations with another individual. By the
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second time we meet we should already be able to get started with the
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deeper stuff. We don't need to keep rescratching the surface, it's time
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to get the shovel and dig deep.</p>
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<p>But for some reason people are afraid of disagreement, they don't want to
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march into uncharted waters where their opinions are at stake of being
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disproven by reason and evidence (in which case your opinions are most
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likely either wrong, incomplete, or unfounded to begin with).</p>
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