HANDLING HOSTILE DISCOURSE WITH ONE QUESTION —“You don’t let the enemy dictate

HANDLING HOSTILE DISCOURSE WITH ONE QUESTION

—“You don’t let the enemy dictate the terms of the debate. You just kill them.”— Jerrick Harald

There exists only one form debate: perfect reciprocity. All the rest is negotiation until we reach a point of perfect reciprocity. If you are not engaging in perfect reciprocity, then you are engaging in negotiation. In mere negotiation we are outside of reciprocity, and therefore violence, fraud, cooperation, avoidance, and boycott are all on the table.

Always ask “Are we are engaged in a debate, wherein we speak cooperatively with perfect reciprocity? Or are we engaged in a negotiation in which we attempting to determine whether we may cooperate? Or are we engaged in threatening, to determine whether we will engage in violence?”

“OK, so you are threatening me, right? Then I will respond with violence.”