A woman and a gentleman lawyer are seated next to each other on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game. The woman, tired, just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun.
He says, “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me five dollars, and vice versa.” Again, she declines and tries to get some sleep.The lawyer, now agitated, says, “Okay, if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500.”This catches the woman’s attention and, figuring there will be no end to this torment, agrees to the game. The lawyer asks the first question: “What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?” The woman doesn’t say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill, and hands it to the lawyer. “Okay,” says the lawyer, “your turn.” She asks, “What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?” The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references … no answer. He taps into the air phone with his modem and searches the Internet and the Library of Congress … no answer. Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and coworkers but to no avail. After an hour, he wakes the woman and hands her $500. The woman thanks him and turns back to get some more sleep. The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, stirs the woman and asks, “Well, what’s the answer?”
Without a word, the woman reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5, and goes back to sleep.
I just have no time for folks who are contrary on purpose. Life is hard enough without being deliberately mean. In a world where you can be anything you want, be kind. It costs $0.00 to be a decent human being.
Sorry for devolving into -isms, but they are absolutely true.
I Sometimes do things like that …carefully. If I know someone who is very thoughtful and responsible but holds a political view different from mine, I’ll challenge them to get an idea how someone that has a very different view from mine arrived at that view (that only works on people not prone to excitable or angry responses).
There was somebody like him in my college Ethics class. He’d wait to see what direction the consensus was heading, then begin making contrary arguments. He had no consistent viewpoint, he just liked to argue. A few years later he was on the city council and acted the same way.
Botulism Bob 6 months ago
You have to wonder what his voting record is.
Superfrog 6 months ago
So we have to disagree to agree to disagree?
sirbadger 6 months ago
He trolled himself.
Alexander the Good Enough 6 months ago
He’s a libertarian Bolshevik. IOW, he’s a MAGA Marxist.
HidariMak 6 months ago
She’s clearly too smart for him.
Erse IS better 6 months ago
I didn’t know you could spell “troll” as “Absolutist contrarian”. But either way, I do my best not to feed ’em.
The dude from FL Premium Member 6 months ago
My belief, don’t label yourself until you vote! You don’t have to vote party line
einarbt 6 months ago
He just got played.
wallylm 6 months ago
Willing to pay the five pounds to watch her have a session in Monty Python’s Argument Clinic.
Imagine 6 months ago
Au contraire!
Imagine 6 months ago
When winning is losing.
lalapalooza Premium Member 6 months ago
But, of course it is easy to stick with a belief system nowadays!
Enter.Name.Here 6 months ago
Devil’s advocate by default. reminds me of the “Argument Sketch”.
The Old Wolf 6 months ago
A woman and a gentleman lawyer are seated next to each other on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game. The woman, tired, just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun.
He says, “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me five dollars, and vice versa.” Again, she declines and tries to get some sleep.The lawyer, now agitated, says, “Okay, if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500.”This catches the woman’s attention and, figuring there will be no end to this torment, agrees to the game. The lawyer asks the first question: “What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?” The woman doesn’t say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill, and hands it to the lawyer. “Okay,” says the lawyer, “your turn.” She asks, “What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?” The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references … no answer. He taps into the air phone with his modem and searches the Internet and the Library of Congress … no answer. Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and coworkers but to no avail. After an hour, he wakes the woman and hands her $500. The woman thanks him and turns back to get some more sleep. The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, stirs the woman and asks, “Well, what’s the answer?”
Without a word, the woman reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5, and goes back to sleep.
abucksworth Premium Member 6 months ago
Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. It was wrong of her to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
keenanthelibrarian 6 months ago
I have learned that there are some people who believe that having an argument is the same as having a conversation. I am not one of them …
LawrenceS 6 months ago
And they should be banned from posting comments on GoComics!
Prey 6 months ago
This made me think of the phrase “One good punch defeats a thousand words”, I wonder why?
Can't Sleep 6 months ago
Putting the ‘jerk’ into knee-jerk response.
sleepyhead 6 months ago
That guy looks an awful lot like Penn Jillette.
calliarcale 6 months ago
You see, if I argue, I must take up a contrary position.
KFischer1 6 months ago
That makes him a gqp more than anything.
pheets 6 months ago
What if we all just thought for ourselves…. Never mind, it was just a thought .
sandpiper 6 months ago
He’s not alone. He should be . . . unhappy
ladykat 6 months ago
No, it’s not.
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member 6 months ago
I guess the most wise know when to let stupid win.
DRSat217 Premium Member 6 months ago
This is a recycled cartoon. It appeared originally on May 25, 1999. Sad.
locake 6 months ago
Most men in a bar would try to prolong a conversation with an attractive woman. He is trying to end the conversation. Dumb of him.
johnjoyce 6 months ago
I just have no time for folks who are contrary on purpose. Life is hard enough without being deliberately mean. In a world where you can be anything you want, be kind. It costs $0.00 to be a decent human being.
Sorry for devolving into -isms, but they are absolutely true.
poppacapsmokeblower 6 months ago
But it does seem easy, these days as it were, to maintain a disbelief system … and a delusion system … and a disinformation culture
mindjob 6 months ago
Being a contrarian is hardest on people with multiple personalities
majkmushrm Premium Member 6 months ago
I have no idea what either liberal or conservative means anymore.
mistercatworks 6 months ago
My mother is what I call a “contrarian”. Even if you agree with her, you’re doing it for the wrong reason .
christelisbetty 6 months ago
Well boys and girls, there used to be this thing called debating…..no, no , not the shouting matches they have today
KEA 6 months ago
In chaos there is profit.
chromosome Premium Member 6 months ago
I Sometimes do things like that …carefully. If I know someone who is very thoughtful and responsible but holds a political view different from mine, I’ll challenge them to get an idea how someone that has a very different view from mine arrived at that view (that only works on people not prone to excitable or angry responses).
Bilan 6 months ago
It’s a great system if you want to avoid meeting people.
Rick Smith Premium Member 6 months ago
Well played, lady. Well played.
l3i7l 6 months ago
There was somebody like him in my college Ethics class. He’d wait to see what direction the consensus was heading, then begin making contrary arguments. He had no consistent viewpoint, he just liked to argue. A few years later he was on the city council and acted the same way.
Mediatech 6 months ago
The truth shall set you free, though today’s political debates rarely have anything remotely to do with the truth.
enigmamz 6 months ago
Note to Self: “Agree with the pretty girl.”
phoenixnyc 6 months ago
How typically American.
leemorse9777 6 months ago
It’s perfectly alright for you to disagree with me. I can’t force you to be right.
T... 6 months ago
Semantics, the true parasitocrat language of administration…
Out of the Past 6 months ago
Brilliant. You meet this idiot every day.
fritzoid Premium Member 6 months ago
Ideology leads to “ideological purity,” purity by nature is extreme, and extremism leads to absurdity.
If you try to argue with an extremist from the opposite extreme, you’re probably both wrong.
Bill The Nuke 6 months ago
That was very clever.
KevinCarson 6 months ago
Kind of a dumb question. There are actually people to the left of “liberal” (vomit).
Richard S Russell Premium Member 6 months ago
Next stop: local chapter of Incels Anonymous, in which they get to muse over where they fit in the hierarchy of exigology.
Daeder 6 months ago
He really dodged a bullet there if she actually thinks that’s “pure genius”.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] 6 months ago
It is only hard if you are just playing at it instead of living it.
eddi-TBH 6 months ago
I’m a radically apolitical cynic. There are more of us than you might suspect.
erinurse2000 6 months ago
Nicely played!
Kradix 6 months ago
Unlike communism…one party, one rule, zero opposition.
Curiosity Premium Member 6 months ago
The biggest problem with that approach is that it’s central premise is a fallacy. There is No Such Thing as an Absolute!
bakana 6 months ago
I actually knew a guy like that when I was in the Navy.
With a bit of careful rhetorical maneuvering, you could actually get him to argue in favor of Both Sides during the same argument.