name-calling and integrity (or lack of)

I don’t expect the world to fall in line with everything I believe in and anticipate disagreements in my life. But I’ve come to realize I don’t appreciate edgy folks that ground their rebuttals on immediate emotional reactions rather than letting facts speak for themselves. If a person’s immediate reaction is to call someone an ‘idiot’ when they hear something they doesn’t agree with- that makes them look immature and insecure with their stance.

Intelligence to me is not necessarily something that can be calculated in standardized tests or allocated via letter grades in an educational institution. I’ve noticed that some of the most intelligent folks I’ve ever met never finished high school or went to college. Some of the least intelligent were supposedly well-educated. But my version of intelligence and credibility is based on a person’s way with words. What makes folks more intelligent in my view is the way they present themselves, their choice in words, and how they approach people. The moment name-calling occurs (“friggin tree-huggin’ extremist!”), credibility is lost. One loses the respect of their opponent when it resorts to name-calling, for it’s only a personal attack on the opponent and not on their argument/s. It makes one appear desperate and it hampers communication, for then the person will get defensive about their own persona rather than their stance or argument. Once a person gets defensive about their character and are in a defensive mindset, it’ll hamper their ability to appreciate the other side of the original argument. They’ll hear, but they won’t listen. Even if the argument has valid points, the inability to present them in a respectable way takes away from the case.

Honesty, dignity, and integrity: it doesn’t matter how good your argument may be, you’ll end up losing your case if you can’t uphold these standards.

Hello again, bloggers! My apologies for not updating this blog in quite some time. I am back from a very long sabbatical, so to speak, and plan on updating more frequently this year. So please check in with me from time to time.

Advertisement