Claims

     One must make sure to be in the habit of second questioning their own claims. It is so often that people, even top level scientists say things that are phrased so definitively without looking at obvious aspects of the problem that in reality are staring us in the face. I was watching a science show- the scientist said that technologically advanced alien life forms would not start sending messages through space till our technology was at the level to receive it and they would know that the signal that we would return would take nine hundred years to reach them at a minimum. He claims that they would not send a message till this far off time in the future. He is assuming that they are at a certain distance from Earth and not right at our front door, so to speak. He assumes that they and we will not find a quicker way to send messages through space. Being so definitive and playing so carefully to the paradigms of ones field, class, race, nation, etc. is so self-defeating. One must analyze each aspect of their argument carefully and meticulously. It is a lack of care and laziness that makes one blurt out a statement when the problem is not actually so simple.

      Even claims as simple as which fast food restaurant or which soda brand is better are so often blurted out as definitive facts rather than preferences which they generally are. Certain points may be valid when arguing why a certain burger is better than another but still something such as taste is not so easy to judge. Taste is so very based on what one is taught is good at an early age. If one brought up drinking Coca-Cola they may develop in their mind that that beverage is far superior to Pepsi. In reality, most people cannot tell the difference, and regardless the difference between the cola drinks are not such a difference for one to claim there is one. Regardless, people make claims that one brand is a 100 on a scale of quality and the other is 0. Beliefs such as this are usually immediately backed away from with much apologetics and blushing when they are questioned by another, but the practice of creating such phantom beliefs can lead one to become delusional and live in a world where this clutter of false beliefs suffocate them.

      Cleanse yourself of these beliefs by writing out the claim on a piece of paper then draw an arrow leading from the claim to the reasoning for it. Generally these false beliefs will lead to something such as "Because it is". That is a sure identifier of a false belief. Some people will write examples of why whatever it is that they like better is better. The aspects of the cola drink that one finds pleasurable should be listed, for instance, that being how refreshing it is, its sweetness, the "punch" of the carbonation, etc. The qualities of the drink that the individual finds less pleasurable should be rated as well. In reality the drink still will relieve someone of thirst, it is pleasurable to drink even to those that claim that it is far inferior to their favorite beverage. In rating these side by side it should be found that it is quite ridiculous to make wild claims that one drink is infinitely good and the other total garbage. Really there is a much closer relation of the two and the difference mostly is due to actual quality (many products are made of an inferior quality than others and are made by an inferior process which would warrant an inferior judgment compared to a superior product) and ones preference which is highly questionable.

      Speaking of preference, this is another emotion-based belief that is best linked to knowledge of what is involved, the better one knows about everything involved the finer ones taste will be. It so common for mediocre, common, run-of-the-mill people to have such a despicable taste in food, music, friends, etc. Most people really don't analyze anything. You can step into any house in a rich or poor neighborhood and see similar carbon copy personalities: The kitschy decor, bad rap or pop music blaring away, the two dimensional acquaintances spilling out canned line after canned line, etc. People tend to live according to the efficiency models of living and do just enough to get by. So much of an average person, for the sake of efficiency, is a prepackaged personality prepared for the masses so they don't have to discover life on their own. The average people are so lackluster, living as if in a famine, playing the role of a citizen to obediently while being such a rotten human being. These cockroaches are consumers extraordinaire; really they are not much more.

      Lay out the ideas, every small aspect of an argument. Seek and question if there are any other ways of thinking about the subject at hand. Is it as limited as you originally thought? Get used to laying out the various aspects of an argument in your head however they are related. Eventually you will be able to be able to do this unconsciously. It will be such a habit that rarely will things be overlooked.