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Each week, Good Weekend’s how-to column shares expert advice on how to navigate some of modern life’s big – and small – challenges. This week: How to win an argument.
Nobody likes to lose an argument, especially if you know you’re right. But the first thing to understand is that winning an argument isn’t about being right: it’s about knowing how to communicate strategically. “Logic can be useful in an argument,” says law student Oliver Bardsley, who was ranked Best Speaker at the 2026 Australian Intervarsity Debating Championships. “But a lot of the time, people’s opinions aren’t based on logic. It’s more about how to be convincing.”
One way to argue is by analogy. “Try to find a point you both agree on and build from there,” says Bardsley. “For example, if you’re trying to argue for a tax increase, find an example of a tax the other person might support and then explain how the tax you’re proposing is the same as that.”
Staying on message is also important. “Don’t be pulled off track. Always argue on your terms.” And be alive to your opponent’s body language, he says. “When people pause or seem puzzled or they’re thinking deeply about an idea, that’s a good sign. That means they’re not 100 per cent sure of their position, and are willing to be persuaded.”
A little gamesmanship goes a long way. If you’re sitting at a table with your friends, try to get them onside. “It’s easy to believe your opinion is better than one other person’s opinion,” says Bardsley. “But it’s hard to rationalise that your opinion is better than the opinion shared by all your mates.”
If all else fails, don’t be afraid to go low. Try the “Gish gallop” (named after creationist Duane Gish), where you unleash a fire hose of specious arguments, half-truths and lies, disorienting your opponent, who, with any luck, will try to respond in good faith. Or throw in some logical fallacies. The classic one is the “straw man argument”, where you replace your opponent’s proposition with another superficially similar – but perhaps wilder, more exaggerated – proposition that’s harder to defend.
“It’s effective because it reverses the burden of proof,” says Bardsley. “It puts the onus on the other person to explain that this isn’t what they’re supporting.”
If you’re willing to get your hands really dirty – and we don’t recommend that – there’s always the “ad hominem attack”, aka character assassination, where you forget facts and reason and attack your opponent personally – their intelligence, their dress sense, their musical taste.
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