Though a hotline would be handy, personally I think the solution lies in good friends. You know, those ones who love you through and through, and love you so much that they would rather be honest and hurt you than commit “confirmation bias” in the name of being nice. They’ll tell you when you have a booger hanging out because better be embarrassed by them than a roomful of strangers. Or they’ll be honest about the more serious stuff, like if they notice you’re being too passive with your family or impatient with people.

I have about two people like this in my life, and one is my wife. However, even she falls short when it comes to our relationship, we both occasionally have blinders on in that. I’d love to have more people like that in my life.

Which reminds me of why I like this blog and the community of authors/commenters. I’ve been chastised more than once, and usually for all the right reasons. I’ve been stung by having my latent bias against gay marriage exposed in a past post by Hank. However, I’ve lately come around to accepting the idea. I wanted to say that because our/my views are so infrequently moved especially on hot button issues. But free thought forums like this can have a positive effect.

Your post reminds me of my experience in high school debate. I used to live for the debate team- I believe I learned how to write and how to think from the experience. The most instructive part was the fact that a debater could not choose the side of an issue they wanted to defend. To compete, a debater had to prepare a case for both sides- a coin was flipped at the beginning of the debate to decide which competitor would take which side.

I had to prepare two cases that were equally strong, but that reached completely opposing conclusions. This forced me to consider the flaws in every argument- I was not just trying to bolster my own case, I had to become my own best opponent. It still helps me see the flaws in my own logic or the holes in my writing to this day.

Persuasion is nothing without a sincere attempt to challenge and refute one’s own message. We must always strive to poke holes in our own logic, both to protect ourselves from presenting a shoddy argument, and to ensure that we are drawing the right conclusions. It is very difficult to tear away our own self-service and admit to the flaws in our arguments- and I agree with you that the best way to refute oneself is to take the perspective of one’s opponent.