Thank You For Arguing Chapter 21

                                            If i asked you who your favorite president is, who would you say? Probably one that you thought was kind, shared your views, and, most importantly, one that you could identify with. So why is this? Well, evolution-wise we as a species feel safer when we are around people that we can see ourselves in. This can be used in your favor in an argument. If you can get your audience to identify with you, they will feel as if they have to agree with you because you both are so alike. To do this, you need to get people to describe themselves. Usually, the first thing they mention reveals their best sense of who they are. And most people will do anything to live up to their identity, including agree with you in the right conditions. Also, make sure to sum up the issues in a few words. Really stress the values to your audience. Now, find a representative or piece of the issue that can symbolize those values.

Thank You For Arguing Chapter 20

                                  "Ideology" once meant the study of ideas, however, now it means a shared belief. Examples of modern day ideology are: religion, philosophies, etc. Ideas become beliefs when people identify with them and create groups based off of those ideas. When something is an ideology, it becomes very difficult to describe its followers without describing their ideology. It would be very hard to explain a Muslim woman wearing a hijab without explaining its spiritual significance in their religion. The point is, you can turn an idea into a belief in an argument if you can get your audience to truly believe in what you are saying. This can make your audience sympathize with you and really understand your point, as well as want to be accepted by you. There are may arguments in which each party is trying to get the other side to join their ideology because if you can get the audience on your side, you win. Hands down. An example of this would be socialism verses capitalism debates. Each side will attempt to make strong points on their cases to sway the other side into seeing eye to eye with them. One method of getting your audience to share your ideology is using an identity strategy. This strategy states that the surest way to commit an audience to an action is to get them to identify with it, or to see the choice that helps define them as a group. Basically, just make your audience really want to join the bandwagon.

Thank You For Arguing Chapter 19

                                 In a perfect world, we could have perfectly rational people having perfectly rational arguments about perfectly rational topics, using perfectly rational speech. Well guess what? But, this is America, and we will have absolutely none of that, thank you very much. In fact, perfectly rational speech can not only be a turn off to many audiences, but can actually distract them from the point that you were trying to make. This is one reason why Aristotle said that logos works better in an intimate setting than in a large crowd. So, to avoid making too much sense, try to focus on the individual value that could bring the group together and identify with you. And while we are on the topic of not being too logical, let us also talk about making your argument as simple as humanly possible for your audience. After all, this is America and we will have none of those pesky big words to justify our free education, thank you very much. One way to do this is by using reverse words. If your opponent says something, odds are they know the antonym to it. So, instead of sounding too smart, just use that. If they say up, you say down. Do not even think of saying downward, declining, descending, dropping, earthward, falling, sinking, sagging, sinking, etc. Nope, down will be much easier to covey, and won't run the risk of boring your audience with its superior intellect. 

Thank You For Arguing Chapter 18

                                             If you wanted to know where many of our well known argument strategies com from, just look at William Shakespeare. He didn't like the traditional strategies of his time, therefore in his writings, he flat out invented absurd ways to win an argument that surprisingly work and are now common staples of any good arguer. Strategy number one: twist a cliche. Cliches are found everywhere, from the knight saving the princess to the villain having no moral compasses. Your job is to throw these cliches out of their orbit to undermine them and make them seem foolish. Why can't the princess save herself? She has the means to and has all the time in the world to hatch a plan. It would be just silly that she would wait for what could possibly be forever just on the hope that a random stranger would come an save her without and fear of sexual harassment. Now this cliche has been lifted and my point is much stronger. Strategy number two: weigh both sides. If you present both sides of an argument to your audience, you are offering them a choice, one that can be shifted in your favor. If you make you side of an argument comparatively better sounding, then it become an obvious choice to your audience which side to choose. Strategy number three: edit yourself out loud. People feel safer around someone that they feel is honest. By correcting your own mistakes out loud, you come off as a much more honest person, and you seem much more educated on your topic, so much so that you even know when you yourself mess up. Strategy four: control your volume. Just like they do in the movies, you can raise and lower your voice to create a certain mood. For example, a loud voice excites and demands attention, while a low one draws your audience in and makes them focus more intently. And lastly, just go full Shakespeare and make up words like there is no tomorrow. Shakespeare was notorious for doing this and it is one of he reasons that his works have lasted so long.

Thank You For Arguing Chapter 17

                              Practical wisdom is a common re-occurring theme in this book. Like virtue, it also lies in the mean, or really, the persuader's apparent ability to find the sweet spot.While you do want to know how virtuous the persuader is, you also want to access their ability to make a good choice that will fit your situation (aka: find their sweet spot). This is phronesis, or recognizing the that the sweet spot changes for each audience, and altering it to suit their needs. If you want to sell a couch to a poorer family, you can hit their sweet spot by dropping the price in a way that looks like a major saving. If you are trying to sell that same couch to a family that already has a couch, you can bring up how their old couch can carry bugs and germs that are bad for the children, therefore using their good parenting intuition to urge them to buy your new and clean house. You hit their sweet spot.

Thank You For Arguing Chapter 16

                                     As stated in a previous chapter summary, disinterest and virtue, can be a powerful persuasion tools, and they are all ethos. To combat this, simply look for the disconnects. When someone tries to manipulate you through disinterest, look for the short circuits between their needs and yours. The second characteristic of ethos, virtue, also has disconnects. Virtue is a state of character concerned with choice, lying n a mean. This definition makes more sense when you break it down into fragments. "A state of character" means rhetorical virtue that only exists during the argument itself. It adapts the audience's expectations. A woman could be a great mother, but if you believe that she is a bad one, then she is temporarily n that argument. For a moment, it becomes her state of character. "Concerned with choice" is virtue that comes out of the choices that the persuader makes. A persuader lacks rhetorical virtue if they try to prevent a choice from  happening. And lastly, "lying in a mean" is the sweet spot of every question that lies in the middle of extremes. A virtuous teacher would neither be an idiot or self absorbed in their own smartness.

Thank You For Arguing Chapter 15

                             There is one very debatable fallacy known as the fallacy of power. The fallacy of power means believe that if the person at the top wants something, then it must be right. This type of argument can be very easily undermined by simply asking, "but how could one person's opinion always be right?", or, "are you just listening to your boss because you are sucking up to them?". However, there are some flaws to the second argument too, such as, "was that argument really fair?", "what if the boss is smart and knows the business better than anyone else?", "would it be such a bad idea to trust their opinion?" The appeal of authority can be a logical fallacy, but it can also be an important ethos tool. This is where pure logic and rhetorical logos separate. In most situations, there are no right or wrong answers, just what is most likely and what is least likely. All of the sudden, our black and white world has become a rainbow of probability. If your boss demands something, then you have good reason to believe it is legitimate, but your audience can use that against you because they are trying to persuade you, not your boss.