How To Handle Someone Attacking You With Logic (Like A Politician)

Politicians are masters at avoiding facts.

When a pointed question enters one ear, it quickly exits the other. They become laser-focused on not addressing the question directly. They skirt around the topic like a deer tap-dancing around a car.

When you try to engage the other party with logic, it gives the person with the most facts control of the frame.

The best defense against someone attacking you with logic is through rhetoric, like a politician.

You can’t possibly have all the facts — unless you’re a brain wizard.

When you’re being blasted with facts, rhetoric is your new best friend. It’s a safe place to take back control of the conversation or frame.

There are two options to protect yourself from a logical attack:

• Zoom out to look at the bigger picture.
• Zoom in to focus on something technical that they’re not addressing.

When you zoom out, make things about the bigger picture. You redirect the conversation, the frame, to something aspirational or something to avoid. “Protecting future generations from a planet that sets itself on fire…”