One of the hazards of living in a society that doesn’t value anything remotely old, or any person over 25, is writing about people who lived in different centuries. I’m taking a bit of a risk here… by way of this first sentence, 50% of the reading audience has already ADD’d onto another subject.
You see, Socrates and Lincoln were masters of the art of asking questions. A key part of each of their distinct repertoires was to ask questions to guide and persuade people to their way of thinking. Undoubtedly, it was a special skill in their respective times. Now, it is probably an extinct form of communication.
The benefits of guiding conversation by questions are well documented and obvious. What is not as evident is why people don’t bother to use this powerful method of communication.
I’ll go out on the limb here, and suggest it’s because we don’t think we have time.
We live in an instant gratification culture with an overwhelming societal case of Attention Deficit Disorder – communal ADD.
In the course of investigating this phenomena, I turned to the ultimate authority on all things cultural: the TV. I watched a few unscripted TV shows (I won’t call them “Reality TV”, because Star Trek is closer to reality than any of these shows).
It seems effective communication requires us to:
a) Have all the answers, right away. If you don’t know the answer, make something up, and stick to your guns, lest you look weak.
b) If you don’t know the answer, shout louder than the other person to make your (incoherent) point. It doesn’t really matter what they are saying, or even if they are right. What is most important is that you win.
c) You are entitled to an opinion, even if you have absolutely no clue what is being discussed. You are not only entitled, you are obligated to weigh-in with your clueless drivel.
d) Everybody is exceptionally good looking. Ugly people make for bad TV, and are thus completely ignored even if they do have something intelligent to say.
I wonder what questions Socrates would ask about this?