DIALOGUE VS DEBATE

by garybuss 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  garybuss

  From my files:

  ***************

  DIALOGUE VS DEBATE
  
  
  Debate:
  Assuming that there is a right answer, and that you have it.
  Dialogue:
  Assuming that many people have pieces that together they craft a new solution.
  
  Debate:
  Participants attempt to prove the other side wrong.
  Dialogue:
  Participants work together toward common understanding.
  
  Debate:
  About winning.
  Dialogue:
  About exploring common ground.
  
  Debate:
  Listening to find flaws and make counter-arguments.
  Dialogue:
  Listening to understand, find meaning and agreement.
  
  Debate:
  Defending assumptions as truth.
  Dialogue:
  Revealing assumptions for re-evaluation.
  
  Debate:
  Critiquing the other side's position.
  Dialogue:
  Re-examining all positions.
  
  Debate:
  Defending one's own views against those of others.
  Dialogue:
  Admitting that other's thinking can improve on one's own.
  
  Debate:
  Searching for flaws and weaknesses in other positions.
  Dialogue:
  Searching for strengths and value in other's positions.
  
  Debate:
  Seeking a conclusion or vote that ratifies your position.
  Dialogue:
  Discovering new options, not seeking closure.
  
  -anon
  
  *********

  Comments?
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  journey-on

  Garybuss....I like this new side of you (new to me anyway).

  Now, what topics posted today made you think of this?
• 

  RAF

  Clear ...
• 

  outnfree

  That's wonderful, Garybuss!
  
  I think I'm going to make a copy for discussion in my classrooms when I finally get to teach!
  
  Thanks,
  out
• 

  nvrgnbk

  We all learn from one another.

  Thanks, Gary.
• 

  garybuss

  Hi journey-on, I haven't been reading much today. The two threads I started today are old topics and I wondered if some of the more recent readers of the forum might benefit from some of my collection of files.
  
  I've found the things that helped me most in my journey of recovery from my Witness experience has been the type of information that exposed the tricks and tactics used on us to control us and manipulate us.
  
  It's like the magic trick that looks like real magic until I see the trick to the trick. My favorite magic trick is the levitating woman. The woman climbs on the platform sitting on two chair backs and the magician removes the chairs one by one until the platform appears to be floating. Then the magician goes to a big show to demonstrate there are no wires from above.
  
  Then he goes into equal drama to show there is no pedestal from below, and finally he moves a hula hoop over and around the platform to eliminate all the obvious forms of suspension. He eliminated the chairs, he eliminated the top wires, he eliminated the bottom support and he passes the hula hoop all the way around the platform.
  
  He eliminated the top, the bottom, and both ends. But there was one more option for support he didn't eliminate, that is a cantilevered arm from the rear.
  
  Once I know how a trick is done, it's never magic again. That's the way it is with high control groups like the Witnesses. I made a study of their tricks.
  
  One mistake the Witnesses made was they got too far in the left field of believability and they had to make a rule that no Witness could look at their tactics or face punishment.
  
  It's like the magic show where anybody who doesn't believe the tricks are real is kicked out.
  
  
  
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  changeling

  Thank you Gary! That was a refreshing reminder.

  changeling
• 

  educ8self

  Hopefully there is a third focus, where you put your heads together without a predefined agenda of proving the other side wrong, and at the same time not hanging on to having common ground or your existing views but just an interest in a better understanding of what is true.
• 

  garybuss

  The great Gerald Mann said that an argument is an exchange of ignorance and a debate is an exchange of intelligence.
  
  I like to theorize. It's cheap, fast, fun, and I don't have to make any amends on the back side.
  
  
• 

  Clam

  Good post Gary.

  Just wanted to come from a relationship perspective. Terry posted the other day that men hate hearing a woman saying she wants to talk. I've been having a few problems with Mrs Clam recently and this pairing really caught my eye -

  Debate: Participants attempt to prove the other side wrong. Dialogue: Participants work together toward common understanding.

  The former is a territory which one often strays into when attempting the latter. That's why I'm not into talking stuff to death. The longer it goes on, the greater the danger.

  Clam