this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
288 points (98.0% liked)
Funny
7854 readers
1386 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Playing devil's advocate only makes you look like an asshole if the person you're talking to has a closed mind. The entire purpose is to bridge the gap between two sides in an argument by acknowledging the positives of something they disagree with.
In essence, if someone has to play devil's advocate with you, you're probably the asshole. Otherwise you would be able to relate to and understand people who disagree with you without treating them like a monster.
A good example of where this can help is in politics. Political discussion is full of people talking past each other instead of trying to understand each other. If you could understand each other, it would be much easier to find compromise, which would make everyone feel heard and lead to the most reasonable outcomes when you consider the voice of all parties. But it's much easier to label your opponent an idiot or a devil than to grapple with their actual problems.
I'm actually very much in favor of playing devil's advocate and do it quite often. But I also feel like an asshole doing it quite often.
I'm confused because the person you replied to just said, if your interlocutor has to play the devil, you're the asshole. Now you're saying, you, the devil, are the asshole, in direct contradiction to the point of their comment.
I've never heard anyone label someone else devil's advocate so I wonder if this may just be a non English speaker not understanding the colloquialism.