Hello everyone, i hope you are well! It's quite rare for me to write about a book and especially about a book that influenced me this much to the point of changing my life in a way or my perspective let's say. The idea of this post came out of a contest from @creativemary and i suggest going over and checking her post for more details. Who knows you might write one as well!
In general, if you know me by now i prefer to write long posts so get ready that this is gonna be a long long one! As i stated above it's quite rare for me to write about a book, i think that so far here on Hive after writing over 750 posts according to Hivebuzz i have yet to write something relevant to a book.
The main reason is that i don't read books that often. I prefer on watching movies, series, documentaries, reading graphic novels or Japanese manga. In general, i really like something that contains pictures let's say. Don't get me wrong i like books and to be honest, i think reading books is more beneficial than what i am currently doing, but i guess it depends on the person.
Many years ago when i was younger i think around 18-19 years old or something like that, i received the The Art of Always Being Right by Arthur Schopenhauer from a friend as a birthday gift. I had no idea about the book or about its author. I have heard again his name, i had already known that he was some kind of philosopher but that was as far as my knowledge could extend at this time.
Before i even started reading the book i did research about the author and learned that he was a German philosopher that had written a couple of books. He is considered to be a pessimist based on his writing and ideas but i would argue and say that he was more of a realist in my eyes. Who knows maybe i am a pessimist myself.
Long story short i started reading the book, which was quite small and anyone could easily read it in a day. The book came out in 1831 if Google is indeed my friend and the gist of it is that the author examines 38 different methods of defeating one's opponent in a debate. Something that is quite amazing and worth mentioning is that these 38 methods aren't just a tool for someone to learn and win arguments.
I believe that the author wanted to highlight and show to everyone what others are using to manipulate or divert them and thus "winning" sometimes at the expense of more than one person. What i mean is that these methods aren't just used by your average Joe out there to win an argument about who has more potatoes or wealth than another. These methods were actually used and are still used by people with power like politicians. Now can you see the importance of understanding these methods?
Below we will talk about 5-6 of these methods out of 38 and i will show you some examples of how someone can use them:
1.Make Your Opponent Angry: Even if you are completely right if someone manages to make you angry by provoking you even with false statements, you may end up with cloudy judgment and say something you don't mean. Even if you try to explain yourself in the eyes of the audience based on your impulse and how you reacted you will be deemed in the wrong, even if your opponent said countless illogical things before you.
2.Interrupt: How common is it that you watch let's say a panel with 3-4 different candidates for the upcoming elections. Mostly they will interrupt each other and you may think what the hell is wrong with these people. Sometimes the reason they are doing it, is not because they can't have a civilize talk, but when someone uses an argument that will most likely make them look bad in the eyes of the audience they will interrupt, dispute, and divert in order to avoid "defeat".
3.Appeal to Authority: Ah this is one of my favorites and quite common as well. Except for the fact that people change the meaning or the words of an authority something that i can see to be commonly used by politicians is the following. Let's say that a statistical authority that is very well-known says that the income of the country has increased 20% in 2023. The politician will use it for his/her benefit. At the same time though the same authority may have published another graph that shows that the actual income adding the inflation has dropped 25% in 2023. Do you see where i am getting at?
4.Agree to Reject the Counter-Proposition: Here you basically provide a counter-proposition that leads to the outcome you want as well. Many politicians when they pass a new law or something unfavorable in general tend to use it. A real-life example i actually heard yesterday from a politician. A policeman hit someone brutally just because and he had people furious about these marching and destroying stuff. So when the politician asked about what they do in cases like this his answer was the following: "The police are here to protect you all, except if you don't want to, so we can fire them all and close the department."
Nobody actually said not to have police or something, just to be stricter or to train them better in order to avoid phenomena like the one i mentioned above. The political thought used this technique without providing any actual response in order to win the argument and move on to the next question or subject.
5.Arguments Ad Hominem. This is a classic one and is also used by way too many people today not only politicians. Basically, when someone has pretty much lost or has no solid argument to provide usually they will attack the character of the other person. Politicians are doing it by using the ideology of others like communism, capitalism and such even if their argument is solid. Most people use it in a debate by saying things like "i don't like your tone, you are angry at me, i see that you are yelling now" but nothing solid like an argument. I bet that all of you have witnessed this and possibly have done it yourselves.
How It Changed My Life and Perspective
Most people when they are younger tend to be more spontaneous, not actually listen to others, act on impulses and in general believe that they can do anything they want to. Also, especially nowadays, they want to be part of a group due to the loneliness and bullying that exists out there. The sense of belonging is a huge deal and many research papers highlight its significance and the decisions that lead people to make. The sooner we understand this and pay attention to it the better for us as people or communities but that's a talk for another day.
Now being a young guy or a girl and taking into account all of the above, something certain that is going to happen in your life and many attempts will go on as the years pass by, is for someone to try and manipulate you. This applies everywhere, someone will do it to earn some money out of you, to use you as he/she pleases even in a relationship and ofc to take your vote!
By reading this book over and over, understanding it and trying to actually see these methods being used in real life, you can like i did to some extent, first identify these types of people and shield yourself from getting manipulated. This is quite a huge achievement and i can guarantee your life will be a bit easier and happier that way.
In essence, you will develop critical thinking something that in my personal opinion people lack these days. People are constantly trying to manipulate us each day and especially through social media where we consume content without even taking 1 minute to think about it let alone conducting some research. Even the majority of companies use tricks through marketing to manipulate us to buy their products and don't let me get started about the politicians or actual toxic people in our societies.
In conclusion, through this book, i managed to change my perspective of the world entirely, boosted my critical thinking and made it easier to identify these methods when used and the ulterior motives of some people. Not only did my life become greater but at the same time managed to identify and get surrounded by "good" people who will be there for me in times of need and likewise. In fact, i managed to help them out with advice when asked, which proved to be correct, once again thanks to this book. From time to time i keep checking the book over and over because i often forget something.
Arthur Schopenhauer managed to write something in 1831 that is still happening today and will keep on happening for many more years. The guy pretty much provided us with a textbook of actual real-life examples and cases that we can clearly identify in our everyday lives if we put in some effort.In a way, even if he was a pessimist, he tried to make a better tomorrow and i believe that thousands of people obtained something helpful by reading his book! (And some simply read it, took nothing and moved on to another book, that's life!).
Isn't it fascinating how something written so early in our times is still very much accurate for 2023? This proves the paradox of human nature: we never change and yet we are always changing! Learning how to deal with people, especially with the manipulators, is so vital. There are always wolves dressed in sheep's clothing so reading books like these will always help! You are a talented writer I can see why you wanted to also write a longer post, I appreciate it🤗
Thanks for stopping by and reading it! Also, thank you for your kind words, i am not even close to considering myself a writer, let alone talented, just another person sharing his views!
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Thank you for the mention @filotasriza3 ❤️
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Мені дуже сподобалося навчання з спеціальність торгівля ким можна працювати. Курс є доступним, а матеріали добре структуровані. Після нього я зрозумів, що з цією спеціальністю можна мати не лише роботу, але й великий потенціал для розвитку кар'єри. Якщо шукаєте можливість для особистісного та професійного зростання, це саме те, що вам потрібно.