What do Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Mark Twain, two Lions, and me have in common – we all give versions of this same advice.
Transcript
One day, a donkey was arguing with a tiger:
“The grass is blue,” said the Donkey
“No, the grass is green,” replied the Tiger
The discussion heated up, so the two brought it before the King of the jungle.
The Donkey shouted, “Your highness, isn’t it true the grass is blue?”
The Lion replied, “If you believe that it’s true, then the grass is blue.”
The Donkey continued, “The Tiger disagrees with me; he contradicts and annoys me. Please punish him.”
The King declared, “The Tiger will be punished.”
The Donkey jumped cheerfully and went on his way.
The Tiger accepted his punishment, but before he left he asked the Lion, “Why have you punished me? After all, the grass is green.”
The Lion replied, “That’s true, the grass is green.”
“So then, why punish me?” asked the Tiger
The Lion replied, “That has nothing to do with whether the grass is green or blue. The punishment is because it is not logical for an intelligent creature like you to waste your time arguing with a donkey. And on top of that, to come and bother me with a question like that.“
The worst waste of time is arguing with the fool – with a fanatic who does not care about truth or reality, but only the victory of their beliefs – or illusions.
One of my favorite phrases to tell myself is:
When you argue with the town fool, the town gains a second fool.
There are other versions — Proverbs (26:4) says,
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.
Ben Franklin said
Silence is not always a sign of wisdom … but babbling is ever a mark of folly.
Abraham Lincoln may have said
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool … than to speak and prove it.
Mark Twain
Never argue with a fool … onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
In all these cases, a fool isn’t just someone who may be uninformed
- but anyone who is blindly adamant like the donkey
- they are unmovable, so why waste your precious time and energy like the Tiger did
- or even worse, why bother others like the Lion who have to witness the pointless debate. Yes, that last one applies to social media.
Because, when you argue with the town fool, the town gains a second fool.
See ya next Monday.
Jason Buffington .com 
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