Nothing infuriates me more than a person who argues without reason. Hardened Bulverists are quite possibly the people that I find it hardest to love as Christ commanded us to. To engage in an argument with one is a futile endeavor and it simply leaves one drained and frustrated, for the Bulverist does not hear a single point you have made, or make any attempt to refute them. They argue solely for their chosen purpose, and instead of using logic and reason to defend their position and attempt to dismantle yours they simply launch an attack upon you assuming your argument is false with no other reasoning other than that it is not theirs.
Lewis came up with the term Bulverism upon noticing the predominance of those methods across multiple fields. By those methods Lewis is referring to the practice of "...[assuming] without discussion that he is wrong and then [distracting] his attention from this (the only real issue) by busily explaining how he came to be so silly." Lewis noted that this practice was applied everywhere but particularly in politics. That tradition has most certainly continued as I think back to the midterm elections where the campaign adds were nearly entirely mudslinging cheap shots and the other candidates decrying there foolishness while not so much as touching upon the actual right or wrong of the issues up for debate.
As much as I hate Bulverism, I must confess to being guilty of it on occasion. Those instances came primarily in cases where I had either little knowledge or little respect for the speaker and therefore discounted their ideas because of who said them rather than upon the merit of the ideas. As was noted during the class one of the big issues of Bulverism is that the argument and the debater have not been kept separate. The veracity of a statement is not dependent upon speaker. Even if the speaker is the most heinous criminal, or the most ignorant buffoon, we cannot dismiss what they say simply because it came from his mouth. We must examine the point the make and after judging its merit and reason come to a conclusion whether to accept the statement or not. The devil himself spoke truth upon occasion, thus if we refused to believe everything he said simply because of the fact that he was the devil, we would find our selves believing that Jesus had not the power to turn stones to bread or have his angels catch him should he fall from the temple heights (Matt 4).
In addition to the separation of the speaker and the argument, perhaps the most effective tool to combat Bulverism in oneself is humility. For, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" Prov 11:2 NIV. We must have the humility to recognize that we are not indeed wise, and that there is a possibility that we are wrong. Even if we are correct in our position we must hold onto humility and not feel wounded because someone disagrees but rather seek to help others see the truth of the matter. In an argument we should be trying to convince someone of the truth of the idea not that they are wrong and we are right.
Nate, there were three things that I really enjoyed about reading your post. 1) Your over all honesty about how relevant bulverism is today in politics and yet also in your life as well. That shows humility on your part so thank you. 2) Your use of Proverbs 11:2 was a good pick and applies really well to what you said and even has a lot to do with what was said in class about how it is crucial that we as Christians know God's word. I find this hard to be diligent and faithful in but His word is so powerful and sharp that if we don't know it, in some way it feels like we are limiting the power of God. And especailly in Proverbs, there we can find some very deep and rich wisdom for our lives and also wisdom how to drop being a bulverist. 3) Your last two sentences I felt were strong and thought that it is very true how we must be ok with others disagreeing with us and help others see truth.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have said it better myself! haha But honestly, your ideas hit home and I enjoyed your perspective. I never even thought about it but when you mentioned it a lightbulb went off.. election commercials! All they were made of was cheapshots at one another. The main focus was to bring the other canidates down, not even to build themselves up! This in itself shows that we live in a twisted society. I know that I too am guilty of bulverism but what would it take to change the way we debate or compete today? Once we take the focus off the opposing person and place it where it belongs (on the topic itself) then can be understand one anothers view with humility.
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