lauren’s Comments (group member since Jun 08, 2017)

lauren’s comments from the AP Lang Summer Work 2017 group.

Honestly, this book has been a big "Aha Moment" for me. I used to spend so much of my time "arguing" with people who I thought were giving a good argument. However, this book has shown me that those people are just inarguable people and that most of the time those "arguments" were really just fights. This book has shown me new techniques that I am going to love putting to the test in my everyday life. They also have shown me what not to use in an argument. Essentially, this novel showed that arguing is finding a persuader's goals, what appeal they are emphasizing, and whether the timing and medium is on par.

The idea of concession in an argument is quite interesting. It is using an opponent's argument to your advantage. If one goes and straight up says someone is wrong, they will immediately be on defense. They become more reluctant too admit that anything other than their ideas are correct. However, if one suddenly shifts their idea of the argument in another direction, that person now has the upper hand. You are taking something they believe to be true and shaping or leading it to prove your point. It's kinda brilliant if one knows how to execute.

I think what Jay Heinrichs proposed is quite an interesting idea. We, as humans and especially teenagers, are expected to almost shun the idea of seduction or at least be expected to see it as inappropriate. However, Heinrichs opened my mind a bit by showing that it isn't limited to just sexual actions. He tells that seduction is manipulation and manipulation is half of an argument. He shows that it brings a consensus. He shows that seduction in real life situations has a similar meaning to those of sexual ideas and to use that to our advantages in arguments. He also provided evidence to his theory by bringing in real life examples like a salesman seducing him into buying a car. I'm not sure if I completely agree with it's entirety but it is very interesting to think about.