User blog:Meta07/My basic rules of argument

Well, I made this blog post just to give you some of my personal tips to how to argue skillfully and not sound like a retard when actually arguing and not excusing. This blog post has nothing to do with conceptions or bloons whatsoever. Here goes:

1. First thing first, ''' play both sides of the argument! ' To clearly understand the situation and to prepare your arguments better, you always have to try to think as your opponent'' once in a while. That way you can partly understand how his logic is flowing and thus can prepare a counter-argument much better. You can also figure out if the situation is actually similar to what you initially think or not that way.

2. Also related to 1, ''' try to counterargue YOUR OWN ARGUMENT itself first before actually speaking! ''' That'll help you prepare a just and tight argument so your opponent will have a hard time counter-arguing it. It'll also help you rethink the situation and keep you from "killing yourself" (creating a fatal weakpoint for yourself which your opponent can easily attacks and make you lose your argument). If you can think of no way to counterargue yourself, then your argument is surely tight enough to speak. If not, think twice before speaking!

3. Analyze every words your opponent has spoken! Though the general idea may stay the same, subtle differences in wording may signal the opponent's uncertainty, lack of logic or proof, or even a little accidental self-implication! Then, you can use your logical tactics to attempt to attack that one tiny weakpoint, and it can turn out very fatal! You can even save yourself from not having proper proof that way! A little side-tip: an important word to watch out for is "too".

4. ''' If you can't win your opponent directly, trap him! ''' Admit it, we all had that moment when we accidentally implicated ourselves of doing something wrong in one way or another. You can use clever logical tactics (and by "clever logical tactics" I do NOT mean cheating!)  to do the same to your opponent too. If you opponent don't implicate himself directly, he'll at least expose one of his weakpoints or give you another proof at least, if the trap is a success. If the situation is good enough, you can even set "double-traps" where if A is not true, then it MUST be B (and I mean MUST, not "may" or "can"!) and vice versa, while BOTH A and B are beneficial to you!

5. And last but not least, ''' admit that you're not always right! ''' While it's good to try to continue the tough argument as long as you still think you're right, DON'T try to go forward if your brain actually says you might be wrong! Know to back off when you're already defeated. You'll lose your argument if you surrender that way, but at least you'll keep your reputation. If you just stupidly charge forward even when everything's clear that you're wrong, you'll just lose the argument WHILE ruining your reputation and cool temper in the process, which is much worse!