When my Brother-in-law was training with the US State Department he told me that as an aspiring foreign service officer he was taught to repond to a concept or idea that might be contrary to his or "our" policies with a retort such as, "that is certainly one way to approach the subject", "an interesting point of view", etc. before proposing his or "our" policy or opinion on a given subject. Well, I do call this diplomatic....wouldn't it be wonderful if all humans had a softer approach to persuasion?
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