Popular argument is more harmful than bigoted one.

Chomin Nakae

In a society where indignation accumulates, a rush and rigid argument "showing the extreme and the extreme side by side" spreads. You can draw a lesson even from this argument but the more troublesome one is popular argument. The pointless, mild argument that sounds overly right weakens your judgement and causes you to misjudge the situation. And if people get tired of arguing, society is eroded from inside. So, "Plow argument,"  the thinker of the Meiji Era warned. From 'Critical Essays by Chomin Nakae."

October 29,  2018

from “Oriori no Kotoba” by Kiyokazu Washida, The Asahi Shimbun