Upon entering my apartment today after class I found myself walking in on an epic argument between two of my roommates. “Slumdog Millionaire did not deserve an Oscar for Best Picture.” “The Dark Knight was more deserving because more people saw it and it entertained more goers” says roommate X. “No that is the stupidest statement I have ever heard.” Roommate Y responds with. “Slumdog Millionaire deserved an Oscar because it was the movie with the best writing, acting, and directing. It was put together much better than The Dark Knight.” My roommates had begun an epic battle regarding what type of movie, or in this case what specific movie, deserved to be considered best picture. Roommate X took the stand that the most popular and most entertaining movie deserves to be awarded with the Oscar for Best Picture, whereas roommate Y believed longtime movie critics should decide because they have been trained in judging movie quality. They went back and forth for what seemed like an eternity spitting off random facts. I, being the bystander who knows his roommates all too well, knew most if not all of these facts had been made up on the spot. I was getting sick of listening to such childish bickering so I asked them politely to stop. This was definitely the wrong idea.
My roommates told me they would stop if I would choose who was right. I had a strong opinion on the subject matter, however I did not want to pick a side in this argument for the fear of dealing with the loser for god knows how long. I then told them that whoever could show me evidence as to why their side of the argument was the right one is the one I would choose. Little did I know no more than ten minutes later both roommates returned with pages upon pages of printed sheets off the internet as to why their side was the correct side. I quickly realized this was a battle that could be won by no one. They both tried to persuade me to believe they were arguing for the correct side, and in their minds they both succeeded. Being the stubborn individuals they are, neither one of them would listen to the other sides facts. They just closed their eyes to their opponent and continued to push their side. It was a battle of persuasion that will never be won.
I wouldn’t call persuasion in today’s day and age “dead”; however it is becoming increasingly more difficult to change someone’s mind due to the vast amounts of information at our fingertips. If there were only one website that agreed with roommate X, the argument would have ended right then and there. However it is so easy today to locate someone that takes the same stance as you; there is no reason to change. Persuasion today is not “dead” it is just becoming a more difficult task for those to dare to address it.
S.T.L.
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It is true that persuasion is not dead, but the availability of “evidence” found across mediums such as the internet have made the art of persuasion’s effectiveness fail in many individual cases. By this I mean that I do feel that there are people who succeed in persuading others on a variety of topics. The internet, however, has been the cause of several problems concerning persuasion.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the internet is generally used by people to reinforce what they already believe rather than look at alternative views. When someone decides to research a topic, they typically have a predetermined view for which they are trying to find evidence. This creates the problem where people don’t know what other sides of the argument might have to say. Unless these people actually get into a debate with others on these subjects, these people won’t ever realize flaws that might exist in their beliefs. Because of this, I feel that rather than using the internet to make a statement about certain issues it is often better to discuss it with others even though they may not have the same views as you. Often times this is only done after someone already has found enough people who agree with them that they resort to the argument of there are this many people who agree with me so I am right no matter what you say when discussing issues with other people. In this roommate scenario, each roommate went to their computers and search for exactly the same view that they hold; even though there was evidence on both sides of their argument, it is likely that neither one of them looked up the opposing views so as to look for flaws or see exactly what was being said about their own opinion.
Also, the availability of information on the internet has created problems; both roommates were able to find “evidence” to their exact opinions. The internet has made it easy for anyone to make any sort of statement that is accessible to people across the entire world. By doing this, people who don’t necessarily understand all the facts involved in a particular argument can post comments for others to see. The fact that others who don’t know all the facts and believe the same things may see these comments and feel that since someone agrees with them they must be right makes the internet actually harmful for persuasion. If people have someone else to back up what they believe in, no matter who that someone else is, they will be much less likely to be persuaded in an argument and instead will often resort to the same I must be right because others agree with me come-back. This simply makes the argument hit a standstill where neither side will listen to the other, causing the art of persuasion to fail.
I would still say that there are people out there who can effectively persuade others into following them and their beliefs. Though the internet has created problems for the art of persuasion, it doesn’t eliminate it because some people can effectively persuade another person to their views even across the internet. The only reason this often fails is that many people refuse to read these opposing views and instead focus only on those with which they already agree. The art of persuasion exists; it is just a matter of drawing in the attention of those who may disagree with your stance.