The satellite radio in my car offers me all sorts of programming apart from music, and I often tune into the comedy channels to hear some stand-up. Yesterday, one comic started a bit by noting that he didn’t know where he stood politically, but liked to “poke holes” in arguments. In this he’s not remotely alone.
There are few things as satisfying, in the realm of politics, as dismantling someone else’s illogical or poorly conceived idea, proposal or policy, and not just when it runs counter to one’s own preferences and beliefs. It’s also a vital part of the political game. We argue, we float ideas, we expose those ideas to trial by fire, and whether it be our friends, our ideological allies, or people who despise everything we’ve written (and, sometimes, us personally by extension), if our ideas and logic don’t hold up, we’re better off for knowing so. It’s how we strengthen our ideas and logic, and it’s how we evolve our beliefs and positions.
There is a big if, of course. If that’s all you do, if you don’t have your own belief set, then what’s the point of poking holes? Sure, there’s fun in being “that guy,” in taking others down, and in pointing out flaws and illogic, but you can’t be against everything and expect to be taken seriously. Or, expect to figure out what you are for, what you should advocate, and for whom you should vote.
It’s safer to merely be the hole-poker, of course. It’s safer not to expose yourself to other hole-pokers. It’s safer to say “I don’t have the answers, I’m just asking questions and knocking your answers down.”
While it’s OK and proper to aver that you don’t have all the answers, this sort of “safety” is little more more than cowardice. Sure, you might argue that you aren’t well enough informed to put forth your own ideas and views (and have to defend them), but if you’re well enough informed to legitimately poke holes in others’ arguments, you’ve got the building blocks to craft your own. So, choose to stand for something or some things. Advocate as well as criticize. Form and share alternatives to what you poke holes in, even if they’re not perfect. Take a risk or two, and be willing to learn from the holes poked in your ideas and proposals. You can make them stronger, and you can develop your advocacy skills just as you developed your critical skill. Have the guts to do more than knock stuff down. It’s harder, of course, but it is when we do hard things that we get the most satisfaction. And, who knows? You might change a few minds, and you might open a few eyes.
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