MisEntropy

On the lost art of argument

E.J. Dionne :

"It’s an approach to argument we’ve lost. What you have so often now on so-called argument shows is simply parallel assertions, competing sound-bites. That’s different from argument where, as Christopher Lasch put it, you have to enter imaginatively into the ideas of your opponents if only to refute them – but in the process you put your own views at risk."

If you haven't risked losing your own views, you haven't argued at all.

Why didn't a record company think of this?

unhearit is a site that helps you get rid of earworms - those pesky songs that get stuck in your head and refuse to go away.

It does this by offering a random but equally "catchy" song to replace the one in your head.

It's a simple and brilliant solution. And I can't help but think there is a bigger opportunity here for record companies.

What better time to offer your wares to consumers than when they are desperately looking to replace their existing ones? And if the new song is catchy enough, it's bound to get stuck and talked and hummed about (and a handy link to download the tune is bound to increase sales too.)

Of course, it doesn't prevent rival record companies from having their own unhearit sites where they can attempt to oust your sticky tunes. If that does happen, the record company that's consistently producing the catchier tunes would eventually win the slugfest.

[Original pic by Meneer De Braker]