Thank You for Arguing
What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion
1. Open Your Eyes
THE INVISIBLE ARGUMENT
A personal tale of unresisted persuasion
Truth springs from argument among friends.--david hume
It is early in the morning and my seventeen-year-old son eats breakfast, giving me a narrow window to use our sole bathroom. I wrap a towel around my waist and approach the sink, avoiding the grim sight in the mirror; as a writer, I don't have to shave every day. (Marketers despairingly call a consumer like me a "low self-monitor.") I do have my standards, though, and hygiene is one. I grab toothbrush and toothpaste. The tube is empty. The nearest replacement sits on a shelf in our freezing basement, and I'm not dressed for the part.
"George!" I yell. "Who used all the toothpaste?"
A sarcastic voice answers from the other side of the door. "That's not the point, is it, Dad?" George says. "The point is how we're going to keep this from happening again."
He has me. I have told him countless times how the mo ...
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