Controversy sharpens rhetoric

Whether the argument is religious, political or otherwise, a controversy has the effect of causing the rhetoric and the terminology to be sharply and narrowly defined. Thus, inevitably, when men look at the arguments prior to the controversy, they may be surprised at what they find. Men are always much more precise and careful in how they express things after a blow-up than before. Therefore, when we read a man's statements on the front side of an open controversy, we need to be very careful about assuming what his positions were. Had he lived through the debate, he might have changed his position, or at least been somewhat more specific about his views.