It's not tough to do well if your aim is really to "discuss something rationally." Most of the time, people are not trying to discuss anything in particular, o

It's not tough to do well if your aim is really to "discuss something rationally." Most of the time, people are not trying to discuss anything in particular, or understand anything better; they're just trying to socialize, and whatever they're arguing about is just a medium in which to play games of flag-waving and oneupmanship. (I know that sounds dismissive, but I'm not trying to crap on it; I do it too. It's just the way it is.) It's silly to look at the result and say, well, you would communicate better if you did X, because that's not the goal.