Avoiding Misunderstanding
A lot of people complain that others extend the point being made to far more than what was intended. Or to apply in contexts well beyond the intended scope. Note that I am talking of misunderstanding of the genuine kind here, not the deliberate one practiced by politicians, journalists and those with an agenda. Some of it is unavoidable because the listener brings their perspective to the table. At other times, the history and track record of the speaker contributes to the problem. So is there no way out? Or can people put out explicit statements of what they don’t mean, call out the point beyond which they don’t want their argument to be extended? Yes, this is hard work, but surely it is worth doing if the topic is important enough, right? After all, it isn’t fair to blame others for not seeing your point when you don’t put the effort to see why they don’t see your point or the … OK, so let’s see how things played out when people have tried this approach of anticipating...