Posted on 07/01/2006 2:43:11 PM PDT by PatrickHenry
In Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, an appropriate text for the Fourth of July weekend, he discusses his methods of persuading others. What follows is excerpted from one very large paragraph:
... the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced any thing that may possibly be disputed, the words "certainly," "undoubtedly," or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, "I conceive" or "apprehend" a thing to be so and so; "it appears to me," or "I should think" it so or so, for such and such reasons; or "I imagine" it to be so; or "it is so, if I am not mistaken."Source: Benjamin Franklin, his autobiography.
This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have been from time to time engag'd in promoting; and, as the chief ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to please or to persuade, I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or receiving information or pleasure. For, if you would inform, a positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention.
If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error. And by such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.
Pope says, judiciously:
"Men should be taught as if you taught them not,
And things unknown propos'd as things forgot;"
Ping to a very truncated list.
Franklin lived in a country largely populated by civilized men. Unfortunately, we do not.
Eh, screw you.
: )
>>>>"Franklin lived in a country largely populated by civilized men. Unfortunately, we do not"<<<<
Bump
From its [expletive] vocabulary to [expletive] style the contemporary rhetorical practice is [yet another expletive] different, it seems to me.
OHZ NOeZ! if u donta gree wit me j00r gonn@ get pwned! N00b.
Kthx
I prefer Ann's Coulter's style of shoving it in their faces and rubbing it in!...LOL
"if you were intelligent..."
Ooooooooooo. Good one.
|
Why say, "I'm certainly right and you're an idiot," thus closing the minds of the listeners? One may just as easily say, "I apprehend that I'm certainly right and, further, I believe you're an idiot."
"-- If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others; --- and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present opinions; --- modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error, --- by such a manner; --- you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.--"
Paraphrased a bit:
If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time wish to express yourself firmly in your opinions; --- [and because modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error] --- by such a disputatious manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.
On the other hand, if you desire to inform other men of your firm convictions, [while acknowledging theirs & soliciting their opinions on resolving issues at hand], ---- it does you little good to be mealy mouthed in your initial comments, --- as others will ignore you as little more than a compromiser.
I can find no instance of Franklin, or any of the Founders calling someone a Nazi. :)
LOL!
I'm not the "sharpest knife in the drawer" today. The 4th of July tourists have hit Panama City Beach big time. I had to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic through 48 minutes to get 2 miles, and that involved using a few back streets unknown to the tourists.
The big bottleneck is the Hathaway Bridge and its connecting highways. It's a beautiful bridge, just completed:
and it has 3 traffic lanes and one emergency lane in each direction, but the traffic gets hung up on the feeder highways on both ends. Traffic engineering here is barely existent.
A lesson I too often let slip by in the heat of the moment...
That's a great photo, thanks-- have a great 4th.
Yeah, you're getting the hang of it ... if I am not mistaken.
You live in the panhandle of Florida? I have a married older sister living in Navarre, FL. Nice to post to a poster who lives in that part of Florida. Enjoy the 4th!
Great post! A much nicer way to get what you want than the modern assertiveness training that has helped make modern people so rude - I should think...
"He that is jealous of every wrinkle in another's nose is conscious of a stink in his own britches!"
Awesome link, thank you very much for sharing!
Ann is a polemicist who does a good job of firing up the base, but I doubt whether she converts many undecideds to her way of thinking. If the goal is to convince someone of your position, one would do well to follow Franklin's example, IMHO.
Your opinion is correct. I was just having fun..lol
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.