Are You Trying to Persuade -- or Showing Off?

 

He was asking for it. He repeatedly needled me and ridiculed libertarianism. I'd had enough.

For the next 12 minutes, I folded, spindled, and mutilated every comment he made, every argument he mustered, every belief he expressed.

My weapons and ammunition? Every fact, insight, and argument I had learned from Murray Rothbard, Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and the great libertarian thinkers. All delivered with devastating force and biting wit.

The results? Total destruction of his beliefs and arguments. Embarrassment and humiliation for him.

The consequences to me and libertarianism? He hated my guts for making him look bad. Most of the 30 people at the party felt sorry for him -- and angry with me. Not for what I said, but for how I said it. I turned off and burned off a lot of people -- who might well have been receptive and responsive to libertarianism.

This happened 25 years ago. I remember it like it happened yesterday.

What went wrong?

I showed off. "Look how much I know. Listen to how many books I've read. Look how bad I make you look. Listen how idiotic I make your beliefs sound. And, look around, all your friends are watching you get put in your place."

I showed off -- at his expense.

Maybe you've never done this. Perhaps you haven't unloaded on someone like I did. Or haven't done it as harshly as I did. Or maybe you haven't done it as publicly -- in front of the other guy's family, friends, or co-workers.

Maybe I was imitating or emulating Francisco d'Anconia's behavior at social events and parties in Atlas Shrugged.

I'm not sure.

Showing off at someone else's expense creates bad first impressions. And they linger and last.

Showing off at someone's expense can be exhilarating, exciting, and a rush. Some users find it attractive. Some find it addictive. But it harms the users -- and the used. The perpetrators -- and the victims. And it creates needless opposition to liberty.

Showing off at another person's expense will cost you dearly.

Profit from my embarrassing blunder.

Ask yourself: Do you want to show that you know more than other people? Do you want to prove you have read more than other people? Do you want to show that you are smarter than other people? Do you want to show off -- at someone else's expense?

Or do you want to persuade?

---

If you choose to persuade, check out Michael Cloud's acclaimed book Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion, 

Source: http://www.theadvocates.org/blog/187.rss

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