Have you ever met a person who disagrees with everything you say? Well, I have, my lunch companion at a writer’s do in London.
Every time I came up with a statement, he would say:
“Yes, but…”
“I totally disagree…”
“You are very wrong…”
I think people like this are trying to be superior to you through disagreement.
When you analyze it, argument is a battle of egos. When you agree with someone’s point of view, you lose! When you disagree, you then are asserting your ego, indicating your superiority! It’s an all out battle between competing egos.
For instance, I said:
“I think women believe in psychics and fortune tellers more than men do.”
“You are very wrong there,” said my disagreeing companion.
“Women use logic just as much as men do,’ he added.
“The reason I made that statement is because women have “fun” with fortune tellers, even if they don’t believe them entirely.”
“I totally disagree with you.”
I re-filled my wine glass. I could see I’d need a fair amount of drink to put up with this guy!
“If a woman has a humdrum routine as a house maker, she may enjoy an escape offered by psychics and fortune tellers.”
“Yes, but, what about the career woman who is too intelligent for such nonsense?”
“Women use their emotions more than men do and I think even the career woman would enjoy a little of the escapism.”
He then turned to someone else to disagree with. I was left with a few minutes of peace to eat my lunch!
When he turned back to me, I thought I’d lighten things up, so I told him a joke.
“The best way to get a woman to argue with you is to say something!”
“Hey, that’s not funny, what have you got against women?”
Boy oh boy, this guy even disagrees over a joke!
I took another sip of wine. I was feeling bold now, so I threw another statement out for his ears.
“I’m fed up with the Nanny State.”
“What do you mean? We need someone to help us with decisions!”
“I just think the government tries to regulate our personal behavior too much.”
“You’re wrong, again. Someone has got to ram info home to us.”
“Don’t you think people should be able to make their own decisions about their behavior and then take responsibility for the resulting effects?”
“I disagree, most people don’t know what’s good for them.”
I shook my head in frustration!
“Well, lets take the case of government telling us about a healthy diet and telling us what to eat.”
“Too many people are fat, someone has to read the riot act to them!”
“Well, I think most of us are educated enough to tell what foods are good for us and what foods are bad for us. In the end it’s our choice. You must take responsibility for yourself. Don’t blame fast food places, blame yourself if you’re obese.”
“You’re wrong!”
“Well, arguments have two sides, but no end,” I smiled.
Would this man ever agree with anything I say?
I thought I’d try one more statement.
“In a blindfold test, most people can’t distinguish between whisky and cognac.”
“Nonsense, I can.”
I ordered a shot of whisky and a shot of cognac, and blindfolded my friend with his napkin. I shuffled the glasses around and then had him sniff and taste them.
The one he said was cognac was whisky!
“I got discombobulated when I was blindfolded,” he mumbled.
I thought I’d enlighten him a little.
“What’s the difference between whisky and cognac? Well, whisky is distilled from grain. Cognac is made from grapes. They both are aged in oak barrels. Sometimes, they look and taste similar.”
When he got up to leave, he said:
“I still don’t agree with anything you’ve said!”
I smiled and said:
“Never argue with an IDIOT; he will drag you down to his level and beat you with EXPERIENCE!”