It’s Time for a More Intelligent Discussion About Basic Income
Can we please put away those childish distraction techniques?
I’m an economist and I’ve written quite a lot of articles about Basic Income. I welcome people commenting on my articles. Some of these comments are from people who strongly support the idea of having a Basic Income system. And some of them are from people who outright oppose the idea, or who have serious doubts about it.
I don’t have a problem with the fact that some comments are ‘negative,’ because negative comments can sometimes be very helpful. Sometimes they highlight people’s misunderstandings about Basic Income, which I can attempt to correct. Sometimes, they raise perfectly reasonable concerns or questions which I might then be able to answer.
Sadly, however, people who make negative comments often seem disinterested in having a rational, constructive, intelligent discussion. And I’m hardly the only person whose Basic Income articles attract this sort of unhelpfully negative response — usually from people who are deeply prejudiced against the whole idea.
So, if you want to respond to a Basic Income article negatively, but intelligently, please avoid some of the most common mistakes, by taking note of the following tips.
