DISQUS

Sui Generis: Forcing Others to Do What They Don’t Want

  • tim young · 1 year ago
    hey derrick interesting post. do you think that there are some situations where forcing people to do something they dont want to do actually works out well?

    i often whether manchester united would have won the champions league had sir alex ferguson not forced ronaldo to stay at manchester united after euro 2004. ronaldo looked hell bent on leaving manchester united as he became public enemy number 1 after getting rooney sent off in the portugal england game. but because of SAF's intervention, ronaldo has gone on to become the best player in the world.

    oh well thats just my 2 cents worth, thanks for the link previously!
  • Derrick Kwa · 1 year ago
    Well...I'm not a fan of Manchester United, so I don't want to say too much. Haha. But if I remember correctly, Ronaldo himself never really said he wanted to leave.

    And well, I dont' think Sir Alex forced him to stay. I think it was more a case of persuading him to stay. There's a subtle, but really important difference there. Trying to persuade someone to do something they don't want to can work out well. But if you try to persuade them and fail to do so, forcing them isn't a good idea, in my opinion.

    Of course, that's just my thoughts. =). You're free to disagree. And as for the example of Ronaldo, it's all speculation, I don't think either of us know exactly what happened, what was going through his mind, etc (unless you have some connections I don't know about?)

    Anyway, thanks for your comment, and you're more than welcome with regards to the link. =). Keep creating.
  • Ron · 1 year ago
    My thoughts are that it is not worth to REALLY force someone to something. Being disagreeable is not bad, as long as the person can support the decision or request. But I do find most people need persuading.
  • Derrick Kwa · 1 year ago
    Definitely, there's nothing wrong to persuading someone. But you shouldn't force someone to do it before they have been persuaded.
  • Truble Sun · 1 year ago
    Of course, of course, of course. Why didn't I think of this before? You shouldn't force your friend to do what he doesn't want to do, such as stopping him from jumping off a building. It obviously doesn't work at all. So let him jump.
  • Derrick Kwa · 1 year ago
    Well, again this goes back to the persuading vs forcing issue.

    And I'm probably going to get some flak for this, but I think you shouldn't FORCE someone against it. Here's the difference between forcing and persuading, in this case. Persuading him would be talking to him and convincing him not to jump (doing an intervention or anything). Forcing him would be tying him down so he can't jump. I don't think the latter is necessarily a good idea.