I Made The Mistake Of Arguing With 20 Year Olds About Politics Without Proper Semantics

Be prepared or be defeated

I picked up 3 younguns on their way to go party last night.

Someone made a comment about how politics is less divisive now than it used to be. I proceeded to engage, done right this can lead to a great ride. Instead I stepped into an arena I was not prepared for.

These folk clearly studied philosophy and/or political science. They also seem to not be in old people's social media, where everything is divisive. I doubt they watch mainstream media news. 

The next thing I knew every idea I had was semantically massacred. They hit me with every definition under the book. Books they had read that I had not.

When they got out of the car, the quiet friend hit me with a, “You should listen to them, they're really smart”. 

Then they left and my next passengers, who were my age, enjoyed me reflecting on my mistake. 

Our PRSPCTVS created a very different battle ground

As a person out there in the world, with my 20s long behind me, I see the world differently.

Gettling slaughtered by these youngsters reminded me of the blind passion of my earlier life. The arena is intellectual and based in theory. The conversation is idealistic and focuses using a macro lens. 

Research takes you very far with learning. However reading books on subjects like racism in America doesn’t hold a candle to talking to people who’ve experienced racism in America. Recently I had a very informative rooftop conversation with someone who schooled the academic ideas I brought forth. Those moments over time bring micro PRSPCTVS that bridge the gap between theory and real life.

In other words the more people you meet with different versions of reality, the more complicated you realize life is. 

All of a sudden the theoretical wonderland of a nuanced university debate is replaced with trying to reshape a system with crafting nuanced efforts to bring ideas to life.

Theory is not real life.

Articulating your points clearly in these debates matters

I used the wrong language to express my ideas. 

Wrong in the technical definition of things. I used the word “Liberal” to mean “Left” given my comfort with discussing politics with fellow Canadians who vote. They took a more technical definition to the term.

They used literal language and used normative language, see I can use jargon too.  

That was fair enough, we tried to align language. However it just led to further semantic divide. While I could have merked them in a marketing conversation because that’s where my language set lies, I’m not super versed in politics. I know enough to express my ideas, but not to get into a proper philosophical debate with people who’ve read Marx. 

I read Galloway instead. 

Still the youngsters did not want to meet me in the middle. They are in the phase of life where essays and classroom discussions are where they express themselves. They don’t realize they are privileged enough to be able to articulate themselves correctly.

The friend was right, they are really smart, but they also said nothing new, while assuming I’m dumb AF. 

I’m probably the problem in their eyes.

Maybe I am, I assume a 21 year old me would not like me now. 

The little ones have a limited scope of language and communication 

One of the most significant moments I had in my passionate debate era is when I cockily slaughtered someone on Facebook, and they responded in a way that slapped back hard.

You are right, but you didn’t have to say any of it like this.

These little ones were focused very heavily on how they understood the definition of words. Their academics. Every idea they produce needs to be cited and accurate. They need to literally be able to defend it. It’s a theoretical combat sport with clearly defined rules.

Meanwhile real life is a street fight. 

Everyone comes in expressing themselves how they do. Each person’s understanding and idea of a concept differs. The technical definition of a word is lovely, but often when you drill down you realize that there’s the version academics use and the verison the rest of us use.

I once made a song about jargon that I really should make the second part to. 

When I first got into content writing I delivered an article that was extremely well written. It was also unrelateable. It was full of big words and advanced ideas. I had to dumb it down to an 8th grade reading level, the average of everyone.

The reason politics is divisive is because we all struggle to articulate our ideas against the people who know things.

And we all know things.

Live Long and Prosper Everyone