Argumentative Jiu-Jitsu
Can you think of anyone more disgraceful than a hypocrite? By that I mean the people who don’t practice what they preach - the proverbial do as I say not as I do. I can think of a lot of examples. First and foremost among them is the education system (I know I talk about that a lot). We learn that in America (technically the United States because the Americas include North and South America) we have freedom of speech and expression but, they never tell us that somewhere in our constitution there is an asterisk when it comes to people who are younger than 18. In fact, our schools are islands of conformist dictatorships in our supposedly “free” country. I also see so- called “liberals” and “progressives” who pontificate about love, peace, and harmony although when someone else comes in with another opinion (sometimes) all those values go out the window and they lash out at the in the most violent and inharmonious way you can think of. In fact, Think about the conservatives in Congress who talk about people being on welfare who don’t deserve it. I think to myself “How much taxpayer money have these kings and queens of welfare gotten while they do absolutely nothing for the people who are struggling to make ends meet (maybe they should look in a mirror)?” When you expose the hypocrisy of politicians and the education system and call them out on their B.S., you are engaging in what I like to call argumentative Jiu-Jitsu.
Force manipulation
In Jiu-Jitsu, you manipulate the opponent's force instead of using your own force. In other words, you use the attacker's energy against them instead of directly opposing it. Considering this, it isn’t just a good strategy for physical confrontation but for debating as well. Sarcasm, in my opinion, is a subtle form of argumentative Jiu-Jitsu where you make the person you’re debating aware of their own obliviousness. Think of this technique as the less childish version of “I’m rubber and you’re glue.”
Playing to Win
At a young age when I loved playing video games (and I still do), there was a certain game I enjoyed the most: Kirby. What Kirby did was absorb the powers of his enemies and use it against them. In the game there was a special mirror power. When you put up this mirror shield, any enemy projectile would bounce off and hit the enemy instead. That power in the game was one of my favorites. Another game that used this same concept I played is Bioshock and the power was called telekinesis. With this power, whatever was thrown at you, you could stop it in mid-air and throw it right back at the person who sent it at you.
“Excuse me, you dropped this.”
It’s an argument I call “return to sender.” If someone sends you a package of coal, don’t open it up. Keep it and write the person a nasty letter - just return the sender’s negativity back to him/her. If someone sends you negative energy, remember that it’s their energy and you don’t need it. It’s their emotional baggage and it doesn’t belong to you. You can help them deal with the baggage but remember not to take it home. Don’t make it a part of yourself and let it ruin you. A good example I can think of is parents who always wanted their child to become a lawyer but the child dreamed of becoming a comedian. The parents are disappointed but the child is happy. If I were the child, I’d tell my parents “Well, maybe it’s not too late for you guys to become lawyers.” I’d tell them “I’m living my dream and I’m happy with it. If you guys aren’t, that’s your problem not mine.” I know it sounds flippant in a way, but that’s my philosophy. Then I’d probably have a deeper, more substantive conversation with my parents. I’d keep this in mind though: It’s their baggage, not mine. They can be reasonable at that point and be happy for my career decision or they could just as well be unreasonable. However, if they choose the latter, then that’s for them to deal with not me. They can go and talk to a therapist about it and even if they wanted me to come to a therapist with them I would, but I’d never take their emotional baggage and make it my own.
Caveats
Keep in mind that argumentative Jiu-Jitsu works best when you have an audience or a 3rd party (especially if they don’t have a bias). The problem with one on one argumentative Jiu-Jitsu when you are dealing with unreasonable and/or highly dogmatic people is that their ego and/or arrogance will blind them to just about anything. Argumentative Jiu-Jitsu is a lot harder when you are younger or the other person has some other form of advantage over you. For example, your parents, teachers, or professors who have control over your allowance or grades will hold those things hostage no matter how bad or flawed their arguments are.
When is argumentative Jiu-Jitsu super effective? When you are a public figure who is 100% independent. The two cases we discussed when it wasn’t effective was when there wasn’t an audience/3rd party and when people have some sort of power over you. An independent public figure relies solely on himself for support and almost always has a guarantee of an audience depending on his/her level of fame.
Fighting the Noise
I believe that argumentative Jiu-Jitsu is needed against the many virulent forms of extremism in our society today. Here, I think, is a great example of the kind of argumentative Jiu-Jitsu I used on the people who were against Trump but who didn’t conduct themselves in a civil manner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeqkCikd4vc. I truly think extremism on both the left and the right should be reined in because it’s not helping anyone. The best way to rein it in is with this argumentative Jiu-Jitsu style. As for the extremist right or the “Alt-Right” as they like to call themselves: If there is some white supremacist underbelly to it then it’s pretty obvious that America was great when it was fighting against that type of ideology (e.g. World War 2.) I’d also have to say for all the racist and anti-Semites out there who support Trump that Trump has a Jewish grand-daughter and people from different races are in his cabinet so any argument that the Trump administration is some kind of racist revival goes directly out the window.
Conclusion
Argumentative Jiu-Jitsu assumes that most people on this planet have some form of rationality or logic. If not it wouldn’t exactly work. Let me leave you what I love the most about this strategy. As I said, I’ve always enjoyed video games. I would play ones where the tables are turned on the bad guy or other such jaw-dropping plot twists. For example, I finished playing a Batman game and the enemy in the game was Scarecrow. He basically wanted the people in Gotham to live in fear and have no hope. He managed to capture Batman by exchanging him for some hostages. He injected a lot of his fear poison directly into Batman’s body and it had no effect. With some help Batman broke free, grabbed Scarecrow’s hand, turned Scarecrow’s own syringes against him and injected him with his own poison. I loved that ending because it showed this evil person having the tables turned on him. That’s exactly the right strategy to have in life: Become immune to everyone's poison and turn tables on them by getting all of their doubts in you and making them your energy to succeed.