This post was motivated by recent experiences in the comment threads of social media on Instagram. While this blog is mostly about long-form narratives in movies, plays or novels, social media posts and their related comments apply.
Why?
Because, all human communication is some form of storytelling, which I argue in The Moral Premise is intended to communicate moral values from one generation to the next.
For me, this means all communication enters into the arena of persuasion ... and necessarily involves the presentation of propositional statements (or premises). Such premises are often in the form of opinions intended to support or oppose a conclusion, which ultimately is a moral value or moral premise.
In this post, I want to argue that such propositional statements or premises (in the form of opinions) will be more persuasive if they are supported by established facts, substantiated evidences, and logical reasons.
Opinions without the support of established facts, substantiated evidences, and logical reasons are useless fodder ... in my opinion,
Was that opinion useless fodder? Let me provide some "reasons" that I hope you'll accept.
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Social Media comment threads (e.g. Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook) are the worse place to conduct meaningful discussions, especially when the original post articulates an idea that is seemingly uninformed and unsubstantiated.
Here are some helpful suggestions for for making such territory less "worse" as long as the platform allows more than 260 characters, which eliminates X.
1. Restate the sentence or idea posted earlier to which you are replying. Assume that whoever reads your reply or comment did not see what came before. Your reply should stand alone since it's not likely to follow chronologically on the thread.
2. Always substantiate your opinions with reference citations. Let us know the origin of your idea or opinion. Help us validate (or invalidate) your comment by providing the facts, evidences, or reasons for your comment.
3. Do the research (e.g. work) to ensure your citations reach back to their original source, and are not just the opinion of another person later in time. For example, when arguing about the practices of a historical institution in the first century, such as the Catholic Church, find and cite the institution's charter from that time or an explanation of the practice or belief from one of the founders, or someone who lived at the time such as an Early Church Father (plenty of their writings are on-line). Quoting or citing an original source document from 70 A.D. or 389 A.D., is better than citing an author or theologian in the 19th or 20th century.
4. Use your real name, not an obscure label. This will enhance your credibility and help dismiss the idea that you're a bot from a Korean social media farm that exists for the sole purpose of gaining likes or followers. Be authentic.
The following four critical points are drawn from T. Edward Damer's books (multiple editions) Attacking Faulty Reasoning, 4th Edition. This book played a critical role in my doctoral research and my subsequent Hollywood story-structure book The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success which this blog is about.
Damer's Good Argument Four Criteria
5. THE RELEVANCE PRINCIPLE. The premise, data, or information you propose in support of your conclusion must be directly and clearly related to the issue at hand.
6. THE ACCEPTABILITY PRINCIPLE. The premise, data, or information you propose should attempt to use reasons that are mutually acceptable to your opposition.
7. THE SUFFICIENCY PRINCIPLE. The premise, data, or information you propose in support of your conclusion should attempt to provide reasons that are sufficient in number, kind, and weight to support the acceptance of your conclusion.
8. THE REBUTTAL PRINCIPLE. Your argument should attempt to provide an effective rebuttal to the strongest and most serious challenges from the opposing side.
In Conclusion:
Doing all of this will be difficult if not impossible this side of a book-long treatment. But all valid attempts to follow these suggestions, even in social media com boxes, will improve each of us and society as a whole to think reasonably and reject unfounded ideologies
