The Argument.

The other night I watched the movie "Thank You For Smoking" on TV.  I had seen it a long time ago, but I didn't remember much about it.  I came to the conclusion that I really enjoy the film.  It centers around Nick Naylor, the chief spokesperson for the cigarette industry in America.  Although exceedingly cocky, I like Nick's attitude throughout the film.  He realizes that everyone has something they do well.  As Nick puts it, "Michael Jordan plays ball.  Charles Manson kills people.  I talk.  Everyone has a talent."

There's one scene in particular that's got me thinking recently.  Nick is helping his son do homework when the following conversation takes place; (ignore the different font and colors... I was too lazy to re-type it so I just copy/pasted it off a website.)

Joey Naylor: ...so what happens when you're wrong? 
Nick Naylor: Whoa, Joey I'm never wrong. 
Joey Naylor: But you can't always be right... 
Nick Naylor: Well, if it's your job to be right, then you're never wrong. 
Joey Naylor: But what if you are wrong? 
Nick Naylor: OK, let's say that you're defending chocolate, and I'm defending vanilla. Now if I were to say to you: 'Vanilla is the best flavour ice-cream', you'd say... 
Joey Naylor: No, chocolate is. 
Nick Naylor: Exactly, but you can't win that argument... so, I'll ask you: so you think chocolate is the end all and the all of ice-cream, do you? 
Joey Naylor: It's the best ice-cream, I wouldn't order any other. 
Nick Naylor: Oh! So it's all chocolate for you is it? 
Joey Naylor: Yes, chocolate is all I need. 
Nick Naylor: Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom and choice when it comes to our ice-cream.  And that Joey Naylor, that is the defintion of liberty. 
Joey Naylor: But that's not what we're talking about 
Nick Naylor: Ah! But that's what I'm talking about. 
Joey Naylor: ...but you didn't prove that vanilla was the best... 
Nick Naylor: I didn't have to. I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong I'm right. 
Joey Naylor: But you still didn't convince me 
Nick Naylor: But I'm not after you. I'm after them [gestures to the crowd].

This conversation sums the movie up quite nicely, in my opinion.  It's a satire mixed with the right amount of truth to make it subtly hilarious.  However, I'm not trying to review the movie here.  I'm making a point, so I'd better get to it.

The first thing Nick's conversation with Joey reminded me of were those Dell and Mac computer ads.  Sounds strange, no?  But hear me out.  When Nick makes the claim, "I proved that you're wrong, and if you're wrong I'm right," it screamed of the computer commercials.  The Dell commercials try to prove that Mac buyers are wrong, while the Mac computers try to prove that Dell buyers are wrong.  Nothing actually gets solved and no value is derived from the statements.  Except that the other guys are wrong.

Taking this to a macro level, I can see echos of it throughout our society.  Port-of-Subs sandwiches are pretty good, but if Subway can prove that PoS is wrong, then Subway is right.  UNR isn't the greatest school out there, but if CCU is wrong, then UNR is right.  Iraqi people are people just like you and I, but if they are wrong* then America is right.

It's strange to see how much we use this logically defunct mindset in our everyday lives.  It's even stranger** to think of a life void of it.  I don't think we would get so hung up on the little stuff, y'know?  Maybe we would stop caring about what country someone is from to or what car they drive or what band they like and just enjoy who they are.  Maybe we wouldn't feel such an urge to steal or kill or trash talk if we realized this.  I think that Nick, in a different scene in the movie, offers a strong counterpoint to this argument.  When talking to an elementary school class about smoking, he exhorts them to "stop acting like sheep... and find out for yourselves."

Stop taking other people's word for it and find out for yourself!  If the government says that someone is a threat, maybe we should see if it is credible advice.***  Instead of not liking Mac computers or Port of Subs sandwiches or different colleges or other races because of what someone tells us, maybe we should find out for ourselves.

Thanks for reading,

-Daniel K

*Whether the grounds for this claim are based on skin color, culture, religion, or whatever.  The minute Iraqis become wrong and Americans become right, we suddenly find ourselves with the privilege of dictating to them how they should live.

**And a tad inspiring.

***Take this with a grain of salt.  Obviously if someone has a bomb strapped to them, they can readily be considered a threat.  But even then we still have to decide how to deal with said threat...