The Argument Culture: Moving From Debate To Dialogue (Book Review Sample)

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THE ARGUMENT CULTURE: MOVING FROM DEBATE TO DIALOGUE
One word to describe the book: Remarkable
The argument culture is an amazing book that will forever restructure how we perceive and communicate with the world. In the book, Dr. Tannen argues that American discourse has become submersed with numerous conflicts and that “the argument culture: moving from debate to dialogue” promotes an adversarial frame of mind. The book illustrates examples of warlike metaphoric language that is heard daily. These metaphors include: the war on cancer, the war on drugs, turf battle among politicians, the battle of sexes among others (Tannen, 45).
These metaphors spread through our talk and influence the way we think. The early chapters of the book focus on the media, indicating how famous programs like Crossfire knowingly and irresponsibly frame problems in terms of diametrically opposed sides. This, according to Tannen, has compromised the quality of information received. In the political arena, she pin-points an increasingly warring mentality, whether during confirmation hearings, at the election period, or without more ado following the president’s State of the Union makes a speech when the response from the opposition must always be presented (Tannen, 257). Throughout the book, she shows how deeply entrenched this cultural practice is, its form, and how it directly or indirectly affects our daily lives. Tannen argues that legal action tries to find solutions to probl...