Definition is a powerful tool if the odds are against you. You can twist things up to make it seem as if the argument was irrelevant. But you've got to make take last. Arguing that the argument is irrelevant may be dangerous since you disqualify your opponent or the judge himself. Like Jay Heinrichs said, "The best way to define terms is to redefine them". I am part of the ambassadors program in CNG and I just realized that they have been teaching us "argument jujitsu" as Heinrichs calls it. When someone asks: Do you guys drink a lot? They taught us to use it against them. We would then reply: Oh, I love getting that question because it allows me to talk about the fantastic programs the school has to prevent substance abuse.
Smart ambassadors are smart.
Eugenia,
ReplyDeleteI like a lot how you relate the book to the Ambassadors program. The Q & A session we had was all basically about using rhetorics to answer difficult questions. Last Thursday on the K4 tour I got a lot of those and now I can witness that the persuasion techniques do work. Parents asked me about drugs, alcohol, bullying, our writing in Spanish and our exposure to Colombia and I feel that using the "Oh, I love getting that question" technique really helped me.
For the record: rhetoric is plural.
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