#but to reject that it tried to touch upon something ambiguous and complicated is a shame in my opinion

[rawliverandgoronspice]

given that seems to be the new popular take in the fandom at large since totk got out: let the record show that I'll gladly let myself get repeatedly manipulated by the wind waker speech and be foolishly moved by its implications over rejecting space for humanity and vulnerability in the monstrous and the dispossessed, and then feeling weirdly smug about severing that fleeting attempt at connection and deem it obviously insincere

[kendrixtermina]

Thoughts and Feelings about“Change Your Mind”

I really wish I could rewatch this motherfucker somewhere but I have to sleep and go to work 

Well on the one hand the main story lines are pretty much done for, on the other, the fallout alone could fill another season, and I’m actually glad that they’re not relegating that to the epilogue but actually going to show it

I assume season 5 will be Steven working with the Diamonds to improve homeworld, explaining things to Jasper, integrating the former corrupted gems on earth, finding out the deal with pink pearl, further developing Steven’s new fusions etc. 

Other open questions involve gem origins and peridot’s renewable energy project, but I suppose that will come up as Steven tries to make the Empire less... imperialistic. 

I understand why they wanted to air this in one piece, you couldn’t leave the younger viewers hanging with some of these creepytastic scenes and no resolution

There’s various concepts I feel reminded of. 

There’s this idea of “tzimtsum” in kaballalistic thought, about how God created the world - In order to create a being apart from himself, he “hid” some aspects of the being, the ones that would seem - So every part of creation reflects one aspect of god, but none shows the complete pictures of it, and because everything has some aspects of god but not others, it is unique - so all humans are made in gods image, but still be different from each other.  

Maybe Pink Diamond would be something like Lucifer in this analogy, part of the creation but as far from the god as you can get while still existing, and somehow their antithesis (stretching the analogy here, of course Judaism has no counterpart to Lucifer let alone the positive-ish early modernity interpretions of him - but of course, White Diamond isn’t exactly a benevolent God either. )

First of course Star Trek, like the ep where Captain Kirk is split into what at first seems like his good and evil half but is more like his animal instincts and higher reasoning, or in Voyager, when B’Elana Torres is split into her human and Klingon halves. 

I guess Garnet wasn’t completely wrong in his being something in-between fusion and human reproduction, his gem half could be considered A Pink Diamond, but not the same one who created him - He must be fricking powerful to shrug off WD’s beams like that, like how Stevonnie still has “boosted” versions of Steven’s abilities despite Connie being human, Steven’s probably like Pink Diamond, but ‘boosted’.  

Steven’s victory certainly showcases how it comes from both sides of his heritage. It involves making WD laugh/embarassed like what Pink used to do, but unlike her, he has the communication skills from Greg - I don’t think Pink ever talked to Blue in that way, she didn’t seem aware of what the other Diamonds were thinking at all, any more than she really understood Pearl’s lingering knot of complexes. It’s just not a skill she could have picked up before Greg - when? From whom?  

His responsibility is all uniquely him and due to his upbringing with the CG’s and wanting to help him more, tho, both his parents where free spirit hippy bohemians, but it was Steven who decided “Nope, I WANT to fix it, because I can”, not because he owes it to anybody, even when no one could fault him for running. 

Also, Frankenstein (the Novel not the film) - The original Victor was a sympathetic, even admirable character, but somehow he just couldn’t bring himself to have empathy with the monster, though Adam was in many ways alike to him and initially didn’t wish to be his enemy.  Because while the gems relate to White Diamond as their goddess and the other Diamonds see her as their mother, she seems to regard them as extensions of herself. Maybe she would, as their creator. Gods are expected to smile benevolently upon their followers and solve their problems, Mothers, while they are flawed humans,  are supposed to love their kids as they are and realize that they become their own persons, but artists frequently tear up their own work if they’re dissatisfied with it, because it’s supposed to be a reflection of their existence, so they might hate it for not reflecting them well enough - 

i often regret tearing up half my teenage fanfics, but I’m able to view them different now that I’m - Back then, I felt like they reflectzed badly onto me - but if had kids and treated them like my fanfics or crumpled drawings, well, that would scar them for life. 

You could certainly see this as a metaphor for narcissism, particularly in the way WD judged everything by how much it was like her, to the point that she would ‘overwrite`’ ppl’s personalities with her ideas of how it ought to be, while lacking a solid identity of her own apart from being “perfect/the best” by default, but that only goes so far because the gems literally are her creations who take their characteristics from various aspects of her being. 

She’d have a completely different conceptual framework to anyone else, though she’s certainly not “above it” in any way. 

I don’t think she was completely unaffected by Pink’s dissapearence either, if you want to complete the Stages of Grief analogy she would be Denial or Bargaining. Most likely,  she was growing increasingly frustrated with her ability to make her empire “perfect” like she ought to and that’s why she started keeping to herself more and assuming that Pink couldn’t be dead. 

She seemed like the knowing one when she was as much in denial as anyone else - you can tell they had a complicated relationship because of how White saw herself in her, that might be why she indulged and preferred her, but then again she didn’t always like what she saw and felt that Pink represented parts of her that she didn’t want to see. 

It’s not without reason that Steven tells her to “get out of her own head” and try to see the world for what it is rather than her preconceived notions of what it is or means. You could perhaps relate that to 

When she realizes that she’s actually dead - that’s when she has her breakdown. 

You could even draw a parallel to “Romeo And Juliet”, where the older generation only realizes how much its ways were fucked up when it gets their beloved children killed for just trying to live happy lives. 

Cal Gustav Jung would certainly remind us that what irritates us about others are often things that irritate us about ourselves, that we may be liable to “see the world as we are” and never is that more apparent than when we view everything through some skewed belief system, or when we hate - people hate people who blur boundaries because they don’t want to confront the ambiguity within themselves, or act as “superior” and merciless because they’ve rejected their own mortal fragile humanity.

Another observation is that when you set up anything as the “default” you create pressure not to deviate from the norm and prevent its members from experiencing their individuality. (see societal pressure on heterosexual men, or Euro-Americans saying they ‘have no culture to celebrate’ - maybe instead of becoming a devouring plague upon your fellow men, you could actually appreciate European culture? Like, read some books, eat some cheese, learn a language, listen to some classical music, vote for worker protection laws?)

It speaks for PD that she even tried to save other aliens at some point. steven stepped completely out of her shadow the moment he was able to feel sorry for her, like “Geez, she had to live like that? No wonder she turned out the way she did!” he pretty much calls the other Diamonds out at some point, like he gets a secure sense of the differences between them when he realizes how much better off he’s been in his own life. Like, UGH. 

For my part, I don’t believe the “best of the worst” thing was true, and more of an “evil cannot comprehend good” moment from White, if not outright projection. (after all, White seems to view all other Gems as imperfect copies of herself) If anything, Pink seemed upset that she got stuck being the leader even as “Rose Quartz” (see the Beach scene in “Greg the babysitter”) - but of course Steven, not being Pink, wouldn’t know whether or not White is right. 

Other Thoughts:

In the earlier scenes you could see a lot of parallels to less than ideal family situations, and how people might end up acting as proxies of the problematic person, almost sprouting their words, in the name of keeping the peace, and how people in such an environment may have no idea of how it’s not normal

You CAN talk down such a person (I know of multiple people who made a bona fide job out of talking sense into literal nazis and clansmen, person by person - their tactic was generally to find whatever problem their rage came from), but there’s a difference between “flawed” and “awful” and I do think it came through that White is a piece of work quite unlike, say, Connie’s mother, and that Steven’s dealing with her because he wants to for the good of society, because he’s the bigger person and secure in himself,  not because he owes it to her or anything

It seems like they went for “awesome” rather than “beautiful” with Steven’s fusions. The designs are kinda gaudy, but even so, once you getpast the gaudy design, it’s kind of touching how Steven’s and Garnet’s fusion is essentially a motivational speaker who sprouts encouraging advice nonstop. Garnet was always Steven’s Mentor and  as well as the main person (besides greg) to teach him morals, as well as generally encouraging & supportive, but Steven of course encourages and supports her too, and both like doing that for others

I love Peridot’s short shorts and that she and Bismuth repaired the ships/ went a-tinkering together. It took me a bit to notice that it’s supposed to be shorts and not just her old outfit with starts instead tho

Voice of Reason!Connieis a gift that keeps on giving

[spiffylindster]

Pi/e Day

Velma woke with a start when a loud crash sounded somewhere in the house, followed by a cacophony of clangs, clatters, and bangs. "What on earth?" she mumbled to herself as she grabbed her glasses off the nightstand and set off to investigate.

As she reached for her door, the unmistakable buzzing roar of a blender being turned on joined the chorus of noise assaulting her ears. Velma smiled; she'd solved the mystery before even making it to the hallway, and she didn't need an unmasking to know that only a certain tall lanky friend of hers along with his Great Dane were capable of creating that much commotion in the kitchen. But just what were they up to?

While it wasn't uncommon for Shaggy and Scooby to make breakfast for everyone, this level of constant noise was usually reserved for special occasions, holidays, or perish the thought, a new food making tactic Shaggy had dreamed up and dared to give the old college try. Velma briefly considered just going back to bed, but she was already up and curiosity got the best of her.

The noises grew louder as she emerged into the hallway and made her way toward the kitchen. Eventually, she could make out the voices of her two friends in the mix of sounds. She couldn't make out the specific words, but there was laughter, chatting, what was probably Shaggy giving Scooby instructions, and an occasional shout; most likely Shaggy trying to deter Scooby from stealing the food.

The kitchen came into view just in time for Velma to witness Shaggy, who was vigorously mixing something in a mixing bowl, bellow, "Scoobert Von Dooenheimer put those strawberries back on the counter!" Scooby grinned sheepishly as he returned the bowl of strawberries. Velma chuckled as she made her way to sit at the breakfast bar. As important as food was to Shaggy, he was pretty lax about guarding his own despite how often Scooby stole it, but when he was working on a large project and cooking for others, he went full on 'eyes in the back of his head' mode.

"Relma!" Scooby bounded over to her as she took a seat on a stool at the breakfast counter and stuck his head on her lap looking up at her, tail thumping away.

"Good morning Scooby" she smiled at him and scratched his ears as his eyes closed in doggy bliss.

Shaggy looked up from his work. "Like, mornin’ Velms!" he greeted brightly, with a small smear of flour across his cheek.

"Good morning Shaggy." she replied with a small giggle at his even more unkempt than usual appearance. She gazed around marveling both at the numerous projects he was working on, as well as the fact that said food projects somehow managed to turn him into a morning person. "What's the occasion?" she inquired gesturing to the chaos in the kitchen.

"Like, it's March 14th!" he answered exuberantly, turning away to mess with the blender and some other tasks.

Velma could practically hear her eyes roll. Shaggy's knack for answering things in the most obtuse way possible was uncanny. She was never really sure if he was oblivious to his ambiguousness, or if it was a form of humor, like when he and Scooby joked about Sweden, Australia, and kangaroos not being real just to irk Fred, as well as to pay homage to rock star Wulfric Von Rydingsvard from the band Wülfsmöøon, one of Shaggy's idols.

Still, as ambiguous as his answer was, it was an answer, and she reveled in a good puzzle, so she took the time to think through and attempt to solve it before pressing further. "March 14th? What holidays are in March? Well, there's St. Patrick's day, but St. Paddy's day isn't until the 17th so that isn't it. Hrm, Easter? No, that's not until April this year. The Ides of March isn't until tomorrow. Perhaps a famous birthday? Ah ha!”

"Are we celebrating Albert Einsteins' Birthday by chance?" Velma ventured.

Shaggy's brow furrowed slightly. "Today's Einstein's Birthday? Huh, well we can celebrate that too. Kind of fitting really." He shrugged slightly but didn't elaborate any further as he got caught up in trying to remove a stubborn lid from one of the food processors.

So, it wasn't Einstein, but Einstein was somehow relevant. "Let's see, March 14th, the 14th of March, the 3rd month on the 14th day, day 14 of the third month, 3-14, 314, 3-1-4". Suddenly all of the flour made sense. "Today's 3/14, like 3.14, it's pi day." she declared triumphantly. "I see you're taking advantage of homophones to celebrate it."

Shaggy looked up from his work with a bewildered expression on his face. "A homoawhat?"

"A homophone" she reiterated. "Two words that sound the same but have different spellings."

As he took in the information he set a cup of coffee before her, complete with a touch of cinamon and honey, just the way she liked it. "Right," he nodded. "like math pi, -p-i- and food pie, -p-i-e-. But, it like gets groovier than that, because, like, food pies are circles and math pi is like, used with circles!"

"Well, that's certainly true, but I don't think eating pie all day is going to work for the rest of us."

Pausing in his work, Shaggy cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "What? Why not?"

"I'm pretty sure you're the only human in this house capable of consuming mass quantities of sugar for an entire day. We'll have to figure out how to somehow incorporate math pi into some actual meals, or other activities."

Still looking confused, Shaggy tried to puzzle through what she was getting at. It clicked for him at about the same time a buzzer sounded. He grabbed a pair of oven mitts and turned toward the oven . "Well, like, there's all kinds of pies Velms, Cherry, Apple, Pumpkin, Blueberry, Strawberry Rhubarb, Banana Creme, Lemon Meringue, Pecan," he opened the oven and pulled out a dish turning toward her, "and egg pie, and later pizza pie, and turkey pot pie." he grinned triumphantly.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Velma smiled. Shaggy had a nice simplistic way about things that sometimes allowed him to see the more simple, obvious solutions to problems the rest of them would tend to over-complicate. Like that time Daphne had wanted to use the spiralizer on the kitchenaid to make zucchini noodles for the first time. But the zucchinis Fred had brought home were far too big for the machine to handle. She, Fred, and Daphne had stood around the machine trying to figure out a way to make it work. Eventually, Shaggy had walked in, and upon figuring out what was going on, he'd simply grabbed a zucchini, walked across the kitchen, opened a drawer, pulled out a peeling tool, and got to work.

"Hey Scoob, would you like, take this over to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's?"

Scooby reluctantly pulled his head away from ear-scratching bliss. "Alright Raggy" he answered with a grin and trotted over to his human. Ear scratches from Velma aside, he was eager to help out his best buddy.

Velma watched with interest as Shaggy handed him a basket complete with a blueberry pie and ice-cream, which Scooby bounded out the door with. She furrowed her brow slightly. "Didn't the Johnson's move out of state to be closer to Mr. Johnson's mom when she started having health problems?"

With a face as guilty as a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, Shaggy turned toward her, face lowered, but he met her eyes. "Ummm, yes?"

"Why are you sending pie and ice-cream over to a vacant house?"

"Umm like… well… umm… errr… like, y-you see, it's like… it's f-for someone else?" he winced.

Narrowing her eyes, Velma stared at him. "Who else would be in a vacant home?"

"N-nobody." he stammered

"So, you sent Scooby to deliver pie and ice-cream to nobody?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of?" Suddenly, comprehension dawned on her. "Shaggy Rogers, the Johnson's house is NOT haunted. We've been over this countless times. When BooBeard was haunting the Johnson's house way back when we were little kids, we caught him, and he wasn't a real ghost, it was their handyman Jack. There was no other ghost there. Be logical. How many more not real ghosts and monsters do we have to catch for you to accept that there's no such thing?" Velma demanded exasperatedly.

After the BooBeard case, Shaggy had been adamant that the Johnson's house was truly haunted by a friendly ghost, he seemed surprised and confused when, Scooby aside, the rest of the gang had rejected the claim despite his insistence that they had met the ghost too. The rest of them chalked it up to Shaggy's imagination or a very realistic dream, which Scooby either went along with because Shaggy was his best friend, or because he too was very imaginative, as well as gullible, and believed him. Mr. Boo, as Shaggy called him, was mostly dropped from conversation over time, but occasionally crept back up to the aggravation of the rest of the gang. And it wasn't just Mr. Boo, there had been other cases down the road where he'd mention something supernatural that had occurred, but it had become a rare occurrence, so either his imagination/dreams weren't having as much of an impact, or he'd simply learned to keep his mouth shut. Judging by the pie and ice-cream delivery, it was the latter.

"W-well like, it… it won't hurt to like bring it over just in case." he mumbled and turned back to his food projects.

With a sigh, Velma took another sip of coffee and tried to change her tone. "You know, I never saw a for sale sign up, I wonder if they donated the house and park to the city. If anything the park in particular has improved since they moved out." Shaggy simply shrugged in response, so she tried a more direct approach. "Why would a ghost want a blueberry pie and ice-cream anyways?'

With that he turned to look at her, and while it was clear he hadn't fully recouped from her recent verbal accost, a small smile tugged at his lips. "Oh, come on Velms, what ghost could possibly resist boo-berry pie and i-scream?"

Velma stared silently at him for a moment, before her eyes widened. 'It was a prank." she stated half to herself before bursting out laughing. "Jinkie's, you actually managed to prank me! Boo-berry pie and i-scream? That whole fiasco with Scooby and the Johnson's house, it was all for a pun!?" She waded up a napkin and threw it at him still laughing. "You'll pay for that Norville."

The napkin bounced harmlessly off his right arm as he sighed in relief. He'd somehow managed to be given an out so he might as well roll with it. He turned to Velma grinning. "I like, await your genius attempt at retribution." he challenged, bowing to her with a wink before returning to the various in progress pies.

At that moment Daphne walked into the room with a yawn and a stretch, she paused momentarily as she surveyed the various concoctions strewn throughout the kitchen before joining Velma at the breakfast counter. "What's the occasion?" she inquired to her friends.

Velma turned to Daphne with a sly smile. "It's March 14th".

Scooby had made it to the Johnson's former residence. With a practiced paw he turned a combination lock on the door handle which when opened exposed a key. Before unlocking the door and entering, he rang the doorbell using the old 'shave and a haircut, two bits' pattern so that Mr. Boo would know it was one of them.

Shaggy had stopped by over the years offering assistance to the Johnson's with a particular interest in helping them maintain the attached park area with a playground. It had been a source of joy and fond memories to him and his friends when they were young and he felt the younger generations deserved to experience those joys and memories as well. It was during such a visit that the couple broke the news that they felt compelled to relocate closer to Mr. Johnson's mom, but they were torn because they couldn't afford two mortgages. If they relocated they would have to sell, which they were reluctant to do as all previous parties who had expressed interest in purchasing their property had planned to have it demolished and rezoned for a restaurant or hotel. Shaggy had offered to buy it outright. There was no way he was going to let the home be demolished causing the loss of the playground and making Mr. Boo go *Poof*.

Shaggy's family was actually very financially well off. There was a reason he could easily donate a bunch of gems to an orphanage and a $10,000 prize to his distant cousin to help save her ranch; not to mention afford grocery bills for himself and Scooby. Underground, Scooby's doghouse at Ma and Pop Roger's put many houses to shame, Shaggy had a zillionaire uncle in the jewelry business, a billionaire uncle who practiced science, his family maintained a historical family castle in Austria complete with a full-time, live-in caretaker, and his family continued to maintain the original family homestead from the pioneer days. In short, arranging to purchase another residence was more than manageable. Despite his families wealth, Shaggy had been the first of the gang to get a job and Scooby knew Shaggy would willingly live in a hollow tree if he believed it was in everyone's best interest.

Having entered the home, Scooby placed the basket on a table as Mr. Boo floated down from the attic through the ceiling. "Rello" Scooby smiled.

"Oh, hello Scooby." Mr. Boo politely replied in his usual timid voice as he spied the basket on the table. "Oh boy, is that blueberry pie and ice-cream I see? Those have always been a favorite of mine. How nice of you and Shaggy to remember that."

[iandennismiller]

Schopenhauer's 38 ways to win an argument are:

Carry your opponent's proposition beyond its natural limits; exaggerate it. The more general your opponent's statement becomes, the more objections you can find against it. The more restricted and narrow his or her propositions remain, the easier they are to defend by him or her.

Use different meanings of your opponent's words to refute his or her argument.

Ignore your opponent's proposition, which was intended to refer to a particular thing. Rather, understand it in some quite different sense, and then refute it. Attack something different than that which was asserted.

Hide your conclusion from your opponent till the end. Mingle your premises here and there in your talk. Get your opponent to agree to them in no definite order. By this circuitious route you conceal your game until you have obtained all the admissions that are necessary to reach your goal.

Use your opponent's beliefs against him. If the opponent refuses to accept your premises, use his own premises to your advantage.

Another plan is to confuse the issue by changing your opponent's words or what he or she seeks to prove.

State your proposition and show the truth of it by asking the opponent many questions. By asking many wide-reaching questions at once, you may hide what you want to get admitted. Then you quickly propound the argument resulting from the opponent's admissions.

Make your opponent angry. An angry person is less capable of using judgement or perceiving where his or her advantage lies.

Use your opponent's answers to your questions to reach different or even opposite conclusions.

If your opponent answers all your questions negatively and refuses to grant any points, ask him or her to concede the opposite of your premises. This may confuse the opponent as to which point you actually seek them to concede.

If the opponent grants you the truth of some of your premises, refrain from asking him or her to agree to your conclusion. Later, introduce your conclusion as a settled and admitted fact. Your opponent may come to believe that your conclusion was admitted.

If the argument turns upon general ideas with no particular names, you must use language or a metaphor that is favorable in your proposition.

To make your opponent accept a proposition, you must give him or her an opposite, counter-proposition as well. If the contrast is glaring, the opponent will accept your proposition to avoid being paradoxical.

Try to bluff your opponent. If he or she has answered several of your questions without the answers turning out in favor of your conclusion, advance your conclusion triumphantly, even if it does not follow. If your opponent is shy or stupid, and you yourself possess a great deal of impudence and a good voice, the trick may easily succeed.

If you wish to advance a proposition that is difficult to prove, put it aside for the moment. Instead, submit for your opponent's acceptance or rejection some true poposition, as thoug you wished to draw your proof from it. Should the opponent reject it because he or she suspects a trick, you can obtain your triumph by showing how absurd the opponent is to reject a true proposition. Should the opponent accept it, you now have reason on your own for the moment. You can either try to prove your original proposition or maintain that your original proposition is proved by what the opponent accepted. For this, an extreme degree of impudence is required.

When your opponent puts forth a proposition, find it inconsistent with his or her other statements, beliefs, actions, or lack of action.

If your opponent presses you with a counter proof, you will often be able to save yourself by advancing some subtle distinction. Try to find a second meaning or an ambiguous sense for your opponent's idea.

If your opponent has taken up a line of argument that will end in your defeat, you must not allow him or her to carry it to its conclusion. Interrupt the dispute, break it off altogether, or lead the opponent to a different subject.

Should your opponent expressly challenge you to produce any objection to some definite point in his or her argument, and you have nothing much to say, try to make the argument less specific.

If your opponent has admitted to all or most of your premises, do not ask him or her directly to accept your conclusion. Rather draw the conclusion yourself as if it too had been admitted.

When your opponent uses an argument that is superficial, refute it by setting forth its superficial character. But it is better to meet the opponent with a counter argument that is just as superficial, and so dispose of him or her. For it is with victory that your are concerned, and not with truth.

If your opponent asks you to admit something from which the point in dispute will immediately follow, you must refuse to do so, declaring that it begs the question.

Contradiction and contention irritate a person into exaggerating his or her statements. By contractiong your opponent you may drive him or her into extending the statement beyond its natural limit. When you then contradict the exaggerated form of it, you look as though you had refuted the orginal statement your opponent tries to extend your own statement further than you intended, redefine your statement's limits.

This trick consists in stating a false syllogism. Your opponent makes a proposition and by false inference and distortion of his or her ideas you force from the proposition other propositions that are not intended and that appear absurd. It then appears the opponent's proposition gave rise to these inconsistencies, and so appears to be indirectly refuted.

If your opponent is making a generalization, find an instance to the contrary. Only one valid contradiciton is needed to overthrow the opponent's proposition.

A brilliant move is to turn the tables and use your opponent's arguments against him or herself.

Should your opponent surprise you by becoming particularly angry at an argument, you must urge it with all the more zeal. Not only will this make the opponent angry, it may be presumed that you put your finger on the weak side of his or her case, and that the opponent is more open to attack on this point than you expected.

This trick is chiefly practicable in a dispute if there is an audience who is not an expert on the subject. You make an invalid objection to your opponent who seems to be defeated in the eyes of the audience. This strategy is particularly effective if your objection makes the opponent look ridiculous or if the audience laughs. If the opponent must make a long, complicated explanation to correct you, the audience will not be disposed to listen.

If you find that you are being beaten, you can create a diversion that is, you can suddenly begin to talk of something else, as though it had bearing on the matter in dispose. This may be done without presumption if the diversion has some general bearing on the matter.

Make an appeal to authority rather than reason. If your opponent respects an authority or an expert, quote that authority to further your case. If needed, quote what the authority said in some other sense or circumstance. Authorities that your opponent fails to understand are those which he or she generally admires the most. You may also, should it be necessary, not only twist your authorities, but actually falsify them, or quote something that you have invented entirely yourself.

If you know that you have no reply to an argument that your opponent advances, you may, by a fine stroke of irony, declare yourself to be an incompetent judge.

A quick way of getting rid of an opponent's assertion, or throwing suspicion on it, is by putting it into some odious category.

You admit your opponent's premises but deny the conclusion.

When you state a question or an argument, and your opponent gives you no direct answer, or evades it with a counter question, or tries to change the subject, it is a sure sign you have touched a weak spot, sometimes without knowing it. You have as it were, reduced the opponent to silence. You must, therefore, urge the point all the more, and not let your opponent evade it, even when you do not know where the weakness that you have hit upon really lies.

This trick makes all unnecessary if it works. Instead of working on an opponent's intellect, work on his or her motive. If you succeed in making your opponent's opinion, should it prove true, seem distinctly to his or her own interest, the opponenent will drop it like a hot potato.

You may also puzzle and bewilder your opponent by mere bombast. If the opponent is weak or does not wish to appear as ife he or she has no idea what you are talking about, you can easily impose upon him or her some argument that sounds very deep or learned, or that sounds indisputable.

Should your opponent be in the right but, luckily for you, choose a faulty proof, you can easily refute it and then claim that you have refuted the whole position. This is the way which bad advocates lose a good case. If no accurate proof occurs to the opponent or the bystanders, you have won the day.

A last trick is to become personal, insulting and rude as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand. In becoming personal you leave the subject altogether, and turn your attack on the person by remarks of an offensive and spiteful character. This is a very popular trick, because everyone is able to carry it into effect.