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So you want to win every argument? Good. But I’m not talking about those emotional knock-down, drag-outs you might have with your significant other. I’m talking about making and proving your point. This little “tutorial” will give you the tools to put together a good argument and will help you determine if someone else’s arguments are sound.

Step 1 - Be right. If you are trying to convince someone of something, it always helps if you are actually correct.

Step 2 - Be specific. Don’t get bogged down in broad generalizations or abstract concepts.

Step 3 - Be thorough. Do your research and make sure you’ve covered every angle.

Step 4 - Check your assumptions. Sometimes you make an assumption and don’t even know it.

Step 5 - Avoid logical fallacies. Make sure you are using your powers of reason and logic.

That last step is very important. You should not only avoid logical fallacies, but look for them in your opponent’s arguments. A logical fallacy instantly invalidates an argument and can really make someone look bad.

The other day I was thinking about war and how terrible and stupid it is. I was wondering why we fight wars. Doesn’t everyone think they are terrible and stupid? Obviously not or we would not fight them. I think there must be some part of my brain that is missing, the part that allows me to understand war.

And who are the most blood thirsty killers in all the world? Why, Americans of course. We go around imposing our will on everyone with little regard for the people we are imposing on. We expect everyone to do things we think they ought to be done and we can’t understand it when people don’t see us the way we see ourselves (as the liberators of the world).

We seem to be dead set on turning Iraq into a little America, a bastion of truth, justice, and the “American Way.” But where is the justice for the Iraqi people? Don’t they have a right to decide on a government for themselves, just as we had that right 230 years ago? Why is an American puppet government okay for them?

Back to the war thing. General Robert E. Lee said, “It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.” I think the General could see that even though in his day war was still a terrible thing, that one day war would become not so terrible and in fact all to easy. I think that is where we are now as Americas. The true horrors of war are known only to the realitively few troops in the field. And we continue to try to find ways to make even those troops obsolete.

There is an old Star Trek episode called “A Taste of Armageddon.” In it, two planets fight a war with computers. After each battle the casualities are counted and citizens are chosen by the computer to be disintegrated as if the attack were real. At first I thought this was an absurd concept, but as technology advances and war becomes easier, it no longer seems so absurd. It represents the ultimate in ease of war, a goal we seem destined to achieve.

So what is the point of this whole post? I don’t know. I just wanted to write down some thoughts I had on war and human nature. I keep thinking that I want to understand this war part of the brain. I am human so I must have it, even if it is buried deep inside me. But what do I do to explore it? Why do I want to understand something that is so terrible?