Let's not mince words: Persuasion is the ability to bend the Will of others, to varying degrees, and in different dimensions.
Self Evidently, there are seemingly endless ways to go about convincing others to agree with your position. And while a determining factor in assessing the power of your suggestion will always boil down to personality traits and interpersonal relationship skills, I assert the majority of this power is limited to only one of two overarching methodologies.
In other words, bending the Human Will can be done in one of two ways: Emotional Manipulation or Intellectual Engagement.
Emotional Manipulation, while expansive, in its truest form is about convincing someone to feel a certain way about their own disagreement that causes them to experience enough emotional trauma to make your them submit to consensus.
Intellectual Engagement, through the recognition of mutual respect and equality, is the consistent commitment to debate on a factual and authentic basis with the desire to reach a resolution for the benefit of greater exchange.
The reality is Emotional Manipulation is much more prevalent in all of our human societies due to our sensitive natures. In the heat of debate, we tend to double down on our false beliefs rather than admit being wrong. But it's a two stage insult; as our next tendency is to name call, yell, and threaten violence in an attempt to hurt and enrage our opponent into dropping their disagreement.
Its self evidently extremely effective... So much so that our society conditions us to believe that we are violent, abrasive people beneath our calm and docile masks, aggressively asserting that the only way to live in the Real World is to accept that we are powerless to our animal emotions... "Dog eat dog," as we say...
There is a singular path to successful persuasion with Emotional Manipulation. It's called learning to be a bully. Psychology categorizes these characters as abusive. And just as the victim of an abusive partner will have difficulty leaving the abuse, so too can a chain of insults prove more than difficult to forgive, ignore, and remedy during debate, giving your opponent the upper hand having learned to shut you down with simple words.
There are a lot of good bullies in the world... Yet there is another strategy...
Intellectual Engagement is far less common, and often displayed in the highest levels of negotiations. Why is it so uncommon, you might ask? Your preconceived beliefs may assert that it is because being Intellectually Engaging is less effective and taken for weakness... "Nice guys finish last," as we say...
After an entire year of strict adherence to The Art of Clarity, (the science of Intellectual Exchange I developed http://spreadthevirussharethecure.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-art-of-clarity.html), I have discovered this presumption to not only be false, but reality to be the polar opposite! I have found that, even when unsure, if I can authentically acknowledge my ignorance, maintain composure, and suspend my judgement, my opponent will always loose their Emotionally Manipulative power over the conversation, and backdown.
So long as you can remain righteous, seek only the truth and not just an opportunity to make a point, and admit when you are mistaken, no bully can succeed!
And that last bit is key: In the art of persuasion, those who can settle the bullies have won the blessing of the Will of the people. It's not about being a good liar... You don't have to be a good liar if your ambition is the truth.
