Consider a public argument between two individuals. There are three participants: the two individuals and the audience around them – the public. It can be easier to win the argument, for some definitions of win, to speak past the person you’re arguing with and instead talk directly to the audience; ignore them altogether.
Joey Naylor (his son): …so what happens when you’re wrong?
Nick Naylor (the father lobbyist): Whoa, Joey I’m never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But you can’t always be right…
Nick Naylor: Well, if it’s your job to be right, then you’re never wrong
Joey Naylor: But what if you are wrong?
Nick Naylor: OK, let’s say that you’re defending chocolate, and I’m defending vanilla. Now if I were to say to you: ‘Vanilla is the best flavor ice-cream’, you’d say…
Joey Naylor: No, chocolate is.
Nick Naylor: Exactly, but you can’t win with this argument… so, I’ll ask you: so you think chocolate is the end all and the all of ice cream, do you?
Joey Naylor: It’s the best ice cream, I wouldn’t order any other.
Nick Naylor: Oh! So it’s all chocolate for you is it?
Joey Naylor: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick Naylor: Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom. And choice when it comes to our ice cream, and that Joey Naylor, that is the definition of liberty.
Joey Naylor: But that’s not what we’re talking about
Nick Naylor: Ah! But that’s what I’m talking about.
Joey Naylor: …but you didn’t prove that vanilla was the best…
Nick Naylor: I didn’t have to. I proved that you’re wrong, and if you’re wrong I’m right.
Joey Naylor: But you still didn’t convince me
Nick Naylor: It’s that… I’m not after you. I’m after them (all people around)