Very good advice, and I am in the target audience.
I have a strong temptation to do this even when I do agree with the person's main point! I took an embarrassingly long time to learn that people tend to take this as implying disagreement with their main point, even if I meant no such thing. Like (as a bit of a contrived example) if someone says the Nazis killed 8 million Jews, I might reflexively say "6 million" (or have to try very hard not to), and I used not to realise that people would mistake that for defending the Nazis or suggesting they weren't as bad as you thought.
A wise person helped me understand that nitpicking is a skill that can be deployed in certain situations where it's useful (e.g. programming, proofreading) and turned off in other situations where it's not.
And there are lots of people I can enjoy doing that sort of thing with, because getting the little details right is as interesting as debating the big picture. But then that's with someone I'm just enjoying talking to, rather than where I'm genuinely trying to persuade.
Wasn't the £350m on the bus deliberately designed to lure Remain supporters into just this trap? It's like Senator Iselin in the Manchurian Candidate who complains to his scheming wife about being asked to make speeches ranting about how many communist spies there are in the State Department but is given a different number every time. Angela Lansbury points out if everyone is talking about the number, the basic claim goes through unchallenged...
Very good advice, and I am in the target audience.
I have a strong temptation to do this even when I do agree with the person's main point! I took an embarrassingly long time to learn that people tend to take this as implying disagreement with their main point, even if I meant no such thing. Like (as a bit of a contrived example) if someone says the Nazis killed 8 million Jews, I might reflexively say "6 million" (or have to try very hard not to), and I used not to realise that people would mistake that for defending the Nazis or suggesting they weren't as bad as you thought.
A wise person helped me understand that nitpicking is a skill that can be deployed in certain situations where it's useful (e.g. programming, proofreading) and turned off in other situations where it's not.
Yes indeed!
And there are lots of people I can enjoy doing that sort of thing with, because getting the little details right is as interesting as debating the big picture. But then that's with someone I'm just enjoying talking to, rather than where I'm genuinely trying to persuade.
Significant debt -> dent
I have no idea what you mean when you talk about having a pedantic audience.
Agree! Never a winning tactic to start with a ‘Well actually I think you’ll find…’. Funnily enough noone takes kindly to that!
Wasn't the £350m on the bus deliberately designed to lure Remain supporters into just this trap? It's like Senator Iselin in the Manchurian Candidate who complains to his scheming wife about being asked to make speeches ranting about how many communist spies there are in the State Department but is given a different number every time. Angela Lansbury points out if everyone is talking about the number, the basic claim goes through unchallenged...
Absolutely!