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Fran Nieto
Mehdi Hasan is currently considered one of the most formidable polemicists and interviewers on the world cultural scene. Thanks to his public appearances, he has made a name for himself on both sides of the Atlantic, participating in numerous programmes on the BBC; Al Jazeera or in your own program in MSNBC (American subscription television channel operated by NBCUniversal). Their tough dialectical exchanges with politiciansexperts and different public hypothesis makers have earned him a reputation on the speaking circuit.
With two decades of broadcasting experience, Mehdi Hasan Hasan describes in his new book how to win every argument using the techniques, experiences and principles he has developed throughout his career. Hasan points out in his book that there is no escaping arguments. Whether on Twitter, in Parliament or at the dinner table, we all feel the very human need to voice our disagreements, opinions and views. Arguments themselves often get a bad rap and are blamed for everything from political polarisation to marital breakdown.
Hasan draws on extensive research on the human mind, psychology and sociology
The author argues that debate and discussion are the very lifeblood of democracy. They are a means of establishing truth, opening our minds to new ideas and solving problems. We just need to get better at them. Taking us from the Greeks to Churchill, from Cicero to Martin Luther King, Tony Blair and Elizabeth Warren, Hasan shows the importance of the art of persuasion throughout history and explains how anyone can master this vital skill.
The essay is divided into three parts. In the first part, Hassan describes the principles that he has developed throughout his speaking career and that now form his foundation. From knowing your audience so you can win them over, to getting to the feelings of men, not just the facts. According to Hassan, when it comes to people, they are not creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. We often hear “facts don’t care about your feelings.” Facts are facts, but it also takes an approach that goes back millennia; You have to appeal to people’s hearts, not just their heads.
To do this, he uses Star Trek as an example, and more specifically the two main characters: Commander Spock, the ultra-logical and super-rational Vulcan; and Captain Kirk, the impulsive, red-blooded human. Many speech preparers end up taking the Spock approach, focusing on facts, statistics, and data, when in reality, we should be channeling Captain Kirk and making an emotional appeal to our audience.
The author maintains that debate and discussion are the very soul of democracy
In the second part, he reveals some of the tricks he uses in his trade, such as the art of the zasca (as such); setting traps to catch the biggest fools or not being fooled by what is known as the Gish gallop (a trick whereby one of the participants in a debate uses his turn to speak to launch a succession of half-truths, lies or misrepresentations that, if issued quickly, do not give the opponent time to refute them).
In the final section of his book, Hasan goes behind the scenes to describe many aspects of public speaking that we don’t see. The first of these is the assumption that public speaking is a skill you either have or you don’t, as if those who regularly appear on stage or television are improvising and are natural speakers.
Hasan fills his book with his personal anecdotes, well-publicized interviews, and historical moments to illustrate his foundations, while also drawing on extensive research on the human mind, psychology, and sociology.
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