The Purpose of Arguing
Hello Kids! I've been "musing" lately, and if I mention names in this, it is not mentioned as a criticism. It is meant solely to illustrate points. With that, let's go nuts.
I owe Mike Failor for coming up with this post. You see, about a week ago, I finished a book called "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis. It is a non-fiction book about how the writer spent a year in the front office of the Oakland A's baseball team, who chose to run their team "against the grain," by buying players that other teams under-valued and therefore underpriced. Lo and behold, the first year that the A's did this, they went to the playoffs, one of 8 teams out of 30 to make it every year. But the amazing thing was that they did it with the lowest payroll in baseball, contrasted by the Yankees who spend about a gazillion dollars a year on players. Anyhoo, that's the background.
So in a conversation on IM with Mikey Failor, local baseball aficionado, I mentioned this interesting book I had just read. He said he had heard of it, but not read it, and said that it was a bunch of "bullshit," (personally, I think it would have been cooler if he had said 'hogwash', cuz that's a cool word nobody uses, but I digress). Then last Saturday, I received a voicemail on my phone when the A's were eliminated from the possibility of making the playoffs this year from Mr. Failor who proceeded to tell me that "Moneyball sucks," and asked "How do you like that?"
Now, it got me to thinking that maybe Failor felt threatened by a new way of thinking about and running a baseball team. But maybe not. Maybe he just hates the book. But it made me remember that nobody wants to admit that they're wrong. And sure, that creates roadblocks sometimes. Another example is Justin's (now defunct) political blog. NOBODY on there would ever concede that they are supporting the wrong candidate, but we learned didn't we, sports fans?
Or at least I did. I feel like I hold a much better grasp of the two sides of the Presidential race, and if it had been easy to convince Justin to vote for the GOP, then I probably wouldn't have learned as much. He wouldn't have been arguing his case and providing supporting points. So, you see, our resistance to make educated decisions enhances our education. Interesting, isn't it?
Now, I could sit here all afternoon and provide additional points and examples, but I wouldn't convince you that I'm right, would I??
I owe Mike Failor for coming up with this post. You see, about a week ago, I finished a book called "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis. It is a non-fiction book about how the writer spent a year in the front office of the Oakland A's baseball team, who chose to run their team "against the grain," by buying players that other teams under-valued and therefore underpriced. Lo and behold, the first year that the A's did this, they went to the playoffs, one of 8 teams out of 30 to make it every year. But the amazing thing was that they did it with the lowest payroll in baseball, contrasted by the Yankees who spend about a gazillion dollars a year on players. Anyhoo, that's the background.
So in a conversation on IM with Mikey Failor, local baseball aficionado, I mentioned this interesting book I had just read. He said he had heard of it, but not read it, and said that it was a bunch of "bullshit," (personally, I think it would have been cooler if he had said 'hogwash', cuz that's a cool word nobody uses, but I digress). Then last Saturday, I received a voicemail on my phone when the A's were eliminated from the possibility of making the playoffs this year from Mr. Failor who proceeded to tell me that "Moneyball sucks," and asked "How do you like that?"
Now, it got me to thinking that maybe Failor felt threatened by a new way of thinking about and running a baseball team. But maybe not. Maybe he just hates the book. But it made me remember that nobody wants to admit that they're wrong. And sure, that creates roadblocks sometimes. Another example is Justin's (now defunct) political blog. NOBODY on there would ever concede that they are supporting the wrong candidate, but we learned didn't we, sports fans?
Or at least I did. I feel like I hold a much better grasp of the two sides of the Presidential race, and if it had been easy to convince Justin to vote for the GOP, then I probably wouldn't have learned as much. He wouldn't have been arguing his case and providing supporting points. So, you see, our resistance to make educated decisions enhances our education. Interesting, isn't it?
Now, I could sit here all afternoon and provide additional points and examples, but I wouldn't convince you that I'm right, would I??
posted by Brad at
11:51 AM
10 Comments:
Give me the A's pitching staff and I could win the World Series every year with guys like Bobby Higginson on my team.
the discrepency is: Higginson's salary alone is roughly 25% of the entire A's salary when they went to the playoffs under the new system several years ago.
Quite frankly, a lot of times the resistence I face is paralyzing. I'm really sick of arguing, but I still feel like I stand by my beliefs. A lot of times, back and forth banter is just plain wasteful and unproductive. In most cases, I clearly state my beliefs, where I am coming from, and that strategy seems to be well received by all.
Each political party tries to grab up as many issues as they can, many non-related to their philosophical arguments, and this causes "the great divide." I hate when people identity themselves in terms of groups, and not an individual.
I had a recent conversation with someone, where I said, "you blah blah blah," and this person thought "you" meant "you and [corresponding political party]."
What type of thinking makes people identity in movements, upheavels and groups? Well, Marxism, of course. Watch early Russian films: there are no main characters.
To me, power is in the individual. Character matters.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
agreed, arguing CAN be wasteful and annoying, but after all you've faced, hasn't it helped you realize who you are as an individual? That was my point, that people arguing about something often helps people realize who they are as an individual, and that's why I think it can be beneficial. I also agree that it can go too far and get annoying.
"NOBODY on there would ever concede that they are supporting the wrong candidate..."
Well, in almost all cases, I don't think anybody supporting a candidate will ever concede that they have the wrong candidate. That'd just be silly. It's similar to saying something like "I believe in Jesus and Christianity, even though I think it's the wrong religion." Maybe that's a more extreme example, but you get my point.
I will admit, as I always have, that I don't think the candidate I'm supporting (G.W.Bush) is perfect in all of his beliefs/actions. In fact, he has many problems; he's just a lot better than that other guy.
Of course, Chris--Justin thinks you are a whore for George W and the Republican party. What say you?
I'd say that Justin still doesn't understand where I'm coming with placing life issues as most important (though not the only important issues) in this election. He still hasn't responded to my point about the understanding of the meaning of "life" as foundational in developing a system of morality and ethics. We're never going to be able to reach our maximum potential in doing good as a civilization if we don't understand that foundational truth properly. A right to life must come first and is the basis for all other rights.
Now, if there was something proportionate to what's happening with abortion (such as 3,000 people being killed each day in Iraq), and the Democratic party wasn't so liberal in a number of other social/moral issues, then perhaps I wouldn't be as certain in my support of Bush.
As long as the Democrats stay they are--almost all-out pro-death--and as long as the Republicans don't drop to that level, then I have no choice but to support the Republican. Justin keeps saying that a vote for Bush is a vote for Hitler. I see it in a different light: a vote for Kerry is akin to a vote for Hitler, if not worse, since not only is he certain to continue in tolerating abortion and other anti-life actions, but will also likely further promote them!
These anti-life actions will be the death (literally) of our civilization (along with contraception). The only reason our population continues to grow is due to immigration. Otherwise we'd slowly be killing ourselves off as a whole. I'm going to make some posts on my blog on these things very soon! Get ready. I'll have it up tonight or on Sunday!
I'm curious about the comment that Steve posted and deleted. Care to enlighten us?
It was a duplicate. Sometimes posting is screwey.
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