2021-11-08 23:40:18
ARGUING BOTH SIDES OF EVERY ISSUE. CAN YOU DO IT?
Whenever I post something negative (but truthful) about someone people admire and respect, it causes cognitive dissonance. It's easier to dismiss this channel as disinformation than to step back and objectively look at a position, and consider for a second I could be right.
When I was in college, I needed to write an extra credit paper in order to keep my grade up. The assignment my International Relations Professor's assigned for extra credit was for us to make the argument Pres. George W. Bush invaded Iraq for their oil, and not because Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
This was shortly after 9/11, so the thought of this even being a possibility hadn't even crossed my mind. He was so wrong. For days I battled my cognitive dissonance, debating whether or not I really needed the extra credit, and excusing his ignorance on the subject because he was extremely liberal. Finally, I said what the heck...I LOVE a good challenge. I wanted to know if I could argue against my own opinion on the subject and still get an "A" on my paper.
It turns out, I was wrong about the weapons of mass destructions. I had been fooled. It also turns out my very liberal political science professor was right and I was wrong. It also turns out I could argue both sides of an issue—(especially one completely contrary to my viewpoint at the time—and still get an "A" on my paper. I did it.
This extra credit assignment taught me a lot of valuable lessons. More than anything, it taught me I wasn't always right, and to look at every issue from ALL sides before coming to any conclusion. If there's ever an issue I can't decide on, I will file it in my mental "TBD" folder to be figure out at a later date, or until I get more information.
Sometimes I'm wrong, and I'll admit it. But just because you don't want to hear it doesn't make it true. All I ask from you is to try and argue both sides of the information I give you,
especially the information you don't want to hear. The information that gives you cognitive dissonance. If you can do that, then we can work together to get to the truth, because the trust never changes.
ARIZONA
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