The Argument Culture Deborah Tannen Summary

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In The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue, Deborah Tannen explains the reason why people usually argue when they have discussions and disagree on various issues. Tannen points out that their tendency of Americans to foster opposed two sided opinions on matters is contributed by many reason such as descriptions, the war stance, and the journalistic media that have led to the creation of culture of war of words. To convince her readers about her argument, she skillfully uses various literacy ways. The writer states to works of other authors to support her main idea in the book. Mainly, she uses works of a fellow writer, Deborah Lipstadt, as a reference since she authored a very important book on the issue of Holocaust (Page, 38). Further, Tannen combines her own experiences with those of her colleague so as to prove her position this delicate issue. For example, Tannen points out that Lipstadt turned down an invitation to a television show as she did not want to enter into an argument regarding the Holocaust. This example complements Tannins position that…show more content…
Providing several examples to depict the state of public discourse, which is prevalent in the political arena, courtrooms, institutions of learning, and on the internet, reflects the main idea argument that not all issues have got two equal sides, and we should try not to force the other side of the issue in the pretext of preserving balance. In addition, addressing the issue, she repeatedly makes reference to the “argument culture’ throughout the book to emphasized her message and makes the readers relate better to the situation. She indicates that the desire to argue has made the talks of American people to be involved into provoking discussions is ultimately objective, despite the facts of the opposition or any reflection of other divergent

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