The Need to Argue

Without a doubt, the need to argue is present everywhere we go, whether it be in class, or at a fast food joint. Arguments exist for one reason: everybody is different. Be it on a political issue, or on what toppings to order on a pizza, no one input, taste, thought, ideal, value or ethical standard is shared by every single person on the planet. The fact of the matter is, human beings are designed to argue. There is no way to get around it, and with the ever-present access to media such as the Internet, television and radio, it only makes arguments easier to propagate.

Even with the aggressive connotations associated with arguing, it doesn't have to just be about the negative aspects of differing views. After all, it was arguing that lead to the eventual ban of slavery. The creation of a free country. The allowance of higher education for all individuals. Arguing in and of itself is something that is both destructive yet necessary. If everyone agreed on the first thing proposed on any idea or action without taking into account all the ramifications of said idea or action, then civilization as we know it would not exist.

With this in mind, many people have gotten so used to the idea that arguing leads to progression, that they have completely forgotten what the whole purpose of an argument was. As stated in Tannen's essay, today's media often displays arguments as something of a spectacle. People soon become attracted to the idea of competition, and before you know it, the need to argue has effectively replaced the necessity to end the conflicts which began the arguments in the first place.