Sometimes I find that starting a discussion with someone that has a different opinion about something than you do, can lead to heated arguments, where both parties tries to "push" their opinion or solution through, in order to "win" the discussion, even though it never leads to a satisfying conclusion.
However, I believe that viewing it as a competition to be won is a misunderstood way of having a discussion. Instead, if you view a discussion as two or more people cooperating to try to find the truth or the optimal solution to a problem together, I have found that it leads to much more successful conclusions. Of course, this also requires you to be able to make a few compromises on your opinion sometimes.
It's often the same misconception I see politicians have in debates, where everyone is asking each other afterwards "who did you think won the debate". And yes, in every discussion, we could be hung up on viewing one party as a "winner" and a great speaker who can succeed over anyone in any argument. But what is it worth, if those people, as well as ourselves, can't think together, share perspectives and help each other find the best conclusion, or the optimal solution to the topic of our discussions?
Honestly, it'd be difficult to get anything done.
(I know that most representative democracies requires politicians to try to "win" in order to be percieved as the best choice as representative. But in all honesty, the mudthrowing gets boring pretty quickly)
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