Playing Devil's Advocate is Necessary
I appreciate a good devil’s advocate. Not only can they help find the flaws in your most immediate arguments, they also (if one is truly listening and paying attention) help to find the flaws in one’s belief system that led to the flawed argument in the first place. Often, our personal/emotional biases tend to dictate over logic and the truth, so it's easy for us to pull the veil over our own eyes when it comes to certain discussion topics that might hit us closer to home than others.
A good devil's advocate, whether they actually agree with you or not (usually they do) is essential in getting to the truth of both the matter and the self, but only if you allow yourself the patience and the self-reflection needed to put an advocate's arguments to good use.
I think this goes hand-in-hand with the socratic method of asking questions to get to the truth. Unfortunately it's a skill the universities no longer teach, since they've decided it's more important not to offend anyone's sensibilities.
it's definitely the socratic method. though i'm not sure i agree with saying it's a skill universities no longer teach as that's exactly where i learned it...at three different universities during three different times of my life.
an essential skill, however! it requires an honest look at oneself, which can be jarring if you do it right.
Are you familiar with the Lindsay Shepherd affair? A teaching assistant was holding a seminar where she showed videos discussing two sides of an issue. A student was made "uncomfortable" by one of the opinions expressed and she was hauled into a secret tribunal and told that showing the video was the equivalent of endorsing Hitler. (I'm not exaggerating.)
It's just one example from one Canadian university, but I'm fearful it's indicative of university trends over the past decade. Universities are becoming the place where people are least comfortable with free speech, because they're so concerned with maintaining "safe spaces."
yeah, that wasn't my experience from the years of 2004-2011.
now, that's not to say it doesn't happen, but i've never seen that kind of thing happen personally and i've not known it to happen to anyone i know. i'll have to give that particular story a look once i'm not at work. thanks for the heads up on it!
It sounds like you got out at just the right time, from what I've been reading.
Hello again. This post gave me the courage to wade into some mucky politically incorrect waters, and I gave it a shout-out.
Nice post i enjoy Reading it..
Kind regards