So Disagreeable!

Trey Smith

I will be the first to admit that I am often baffled by how a person is to supposed to disagree respectfully. It seems that however I try to approach a topic, I end up ruffling someone's feathers. They don't like my tone. They don't like my inferences. They don't like my examples. They don't like my points. They don't like the subject chosen. Sometimes, it's all of these things and more!

When I try to be tactful, I'm told that I must not understand what tact is. When I try to state the points of disagreement in a calm and deliberate manner, I'm told that I'm being arrogant and cold. When I list the points of disagreement, I'm told that I really don't understand or I wouldn't be disagreeing at all.

Since I don't seem to "get" a lot of the rules of social interaction, I don't tend to worry about it too much anymore. I used to, but no matter how hard I tried to follow the rules, someone invariably would point out that I broke one or more of them.