Rubber and Glue

"I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you..."

I remember using that comeback on folks during my younger years. It was a favorite weapon on the playground that was always a lot easier to wield than my fists. Of course, looking back I can see how wack and trite my response was, but at the time, it seemed like the perfect zinger.

Rubber and glue.

Some of my conversations with folks remind me of that rubber and glue insult. Whether it be talks about race, religion or love, it seems like a lot of folks just let my thoughts bounce off of them. It doesn't matter how well I word my arguments, or how tight my logic may be, some folks will always be rubber.

I told a friend of mine recently, that you can always identify rubber folks by how they deal with challenges to their assertions. If you refute their comments, instead of them acknowledging that they were wrong, they just throw out another false assertion and challenge you to debunk it. In fact, they will always have lies and half-truths to lob at you. Worst of all, even if you prove every assertion false, they will use those same arguments with someone else because they figure that person won't be smart enough to prove them wrong.

Eventually, rubber folks bog you down. They make you want to avoid heated discussion because it seems like a no-win situation. I've met rubber folks on the job, in school and even in relationships. At some point, their rubber mentalities act as a sort of glue that gets you stuck in a rut. If you're not careful, rubber folks can make you a pretty sucky person to be around.

There are many approaches to combating people with a rubber mentality, and all of us know what works best for our personality. For me, I use a combination of ignoring folks and forcing them to acknowledge my rhetorical victories. I've decided that if someone won't acknowledge when I've won an argument, then I'll ignore them until they do. It's not always satisfying, but it's typically less stressful.

Whatever makes the rubber hit the road...





Share