GOES ON ARGUING.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 48, 27 February 1936, Page 4

GOES ON ARGUING.

If there is one thing for which I honour the human race more than for another, it is the way in which it goes on arguing, writes “Y.Y.” in the New Statesman and the Nation. The proverbial visitor from another planet, landing on earth, would be amazed at the extent to which controversy flourishes everywhere except in those ultra-mod-ern countries in which it is forbidden. He would say to himself: “Why do these people argue so hotly? Those who argue were not converted to their beliefs by reason, so why should they hope to convert others by arguments that would not have convinced themselves? The human being, as a rule, is a man who jumps mystically to conclusions, yet he never loses hope of being able to reason others into the same conclusions.” The fact that, in spite of the obvious truth of this, men go on arguing, seems to me to be a proof of the unquenchable optimism of the human race. Consider for a moment. You who are middle aged must have taken part in thousands of arguments. You argued in the nursery and you won, though your nurse did not admit it. You argued with uncles and aunts, with great-uncles and great-aunts, and thrashed them all without making the slightest impression on them. You argued triumphantly at school without ever converting a schoolfellow. Later, your college rang with your incontrovertible statements on matters religious, political, literary, and metaphysical; and not a single contemporary of the opposite opinion even knew that you had won. In the wide world you continued to fight for the truth like a skilled fencer in yours and other people’s homes, in offices, in restaurants, in the streets, perhaps in public-houses. You have been arguing, say, for forty years, and how many converts have you made? You will be lucky, I think, if you can name six.