Preemptive Education

The trick is to read early in life, or in any case, the earlier the better. Choose famous books that have some heft to them. Books that you can silence people with. For instance, Orwell’s 1984, or The Communist Manifesto, or Lord of the Rings, or The Unbearable Lightness of Being (respect for Kundera, who has died recently.)

Then for the rest of your life, whenever you find yourself in a discussion where you want to invalidate someone else’s point, you can hit them with a quote. Right in the nuts.
Let’s say you find yourself in a political discussion, and someone is proposing that some of the market’s excesses should be curbed with greater government intervention. That there is your cue to bring out 1984. Have they even read that book? Ha, you got them. Right where it hurts. See, Orwell talks about Big Brother, which is where your line of action will lead inexorably, friend. (Be sure to say “inexorably”.) Even better, to this same person who has had the audacity to imply the market may lead to bad outcomes in some cases, you can quote Adam Smith. It’s not even necessary to have read Adam Smith. Just mention his name and allude to the invisible hand. There, friend. Our individual self-interest gets translated into progress by the market. Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Your poor opponent, having been hit by a double whammy of 1984 and the invisible hand, won’t have a chance to recover.

You may have noticed that I snuck a quote from the 1987 classic Wall Street. That is an example of what not to do. Movies are too popular, too easy to consume. You will not silence anyone with a movie quote. Perhaps a very timely quote from The Godfather would serve, or from Casablanca. But certainly not Wall Street. You may be tempted to quote from Christopher Nolan’s movies, but I advise not to; they are too intellectually sweaty.

There’s real economy of effort with this strategy. Read a few well chosen books, or even better, get an advanced degree from a well known university, and you are set for life. No need to learn new things nor pick new skills. Nobody, certainly not the young punks, can challenge your views.