It's a very vulgar, arithmetical, pragmatic way of arguing anyway. If you do that, then get the facts and figures wrong, well then you're really fucked. You're fucked twice. --Christopher Hitchens, May 2002 [244]
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker criticizes a pragmatic argument style as vulgar and warns that getting facts wrong doubles the failure.
- In plain terms
- If you argue poorly and get facts wrong, you fail completely.
- What can you take from it?
- Accuracy matters in pragmatic arguments.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes an argument vulgar?
- Why do facts matter?
Another view
The tone is harsh and subjective about argument styles.
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