“The argument culture urges us to approach the world - and the people in it - in an adversarial frame of mind. It rests on the assumption that opposition is the best way to get anything done: The best way to discuss an idea is to set up a debate; the best way to cover news is to find spokespeople who express the most extreme, polarized views and present them as 'both sides'; the best way to settle disputes is litigation that pits one party against the other; the best way to begin an essay is to attack someone; and the best way to show you're really thinking is to criticize.” PeopleThinkingWorldWayMindIdeasDoneShowsCultureSidesViewsPartyApproachNewsArgumentExtremesDebateBest WaySettlingAssumptionOppositionUrgesCriticizeBoth SidesEssaysDisputesPitsFrame Of MindSpokespeople Author:Deborah Tannen
“I became a little alarmed at the number of my readers who took the meme more positively as a theory of human culture in its own right - either to criticize it (unfairly, given my original modest intention) or to carry it far beyond the limits of what I then thought justified. This was why I may have seemed to backtrack.” HumansMayLittlesCultureGivenNumbersAtheismTheoryReaderLimitsOriginalsIntentionPositive AtheismCriticizeModestJustifiedPositivelyMemes Book:A Devil's Chaplain Source: A Devil's Chaplain