PrivateDebate

Quora Answer : How can we get rid of labels like right-wing, socialist, liberal for proposals or ideas? Why can't a proposal be put forth and debated without the automatic knee-jerk reactions we now see.

Mar 22, 2019

There's two parts to this question :

labels are inevitable. We need to have words for things if we're to talk about them. And even if we scrapped the current words tomorrow, we'd need to invent new labels the day after tomorrow to keep talking about political positions.

the reason it seems we don't have much good debate is that we are all living in a kind of goldfish bowl on social media, where everything we say and do is (semi-) public. When people get into discussions in the public space of the internet, rather than a private space of a pub table or classroom etc. people are arguing for two audiences : their opponents and third-party observers.

It's the third party observers who are the problem. People don't like to be seen to lose the argument or let their side down in public, so they are more energised to "win" or be seen to win.

My advice to those who bemoan the lack of good debate : go out and find or create spaces where people can debate each other in private. Where there's less pressure to be seen not to let your side down. Do this, and you'll find that people are still reasonable and willing to concede when they are wrong or don't know something.

But if you force people into public competition, they will act like professional gladiators and fight to the death.