The Tenth Man Rule

1,213 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by TechDawgMc
Oldbear83
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It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
Wrecks Quan Dough
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Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
No, I don't like this idea.
George Truett
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Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
I like it.

Causes the group to think.
Oldbear83
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Carlos Safety said:

Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
No, I don't like this idea.
Why not? Please elaborate.
Wrecks Quan Dough
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Oldbear83 said:

Carlos Safety said:

Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
No, I don't like this idea.
Why not? Please elaborate.
Just being a contrarian. I did not want the board to devolve into group think on this topic.
Oldbear83
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Carlos Safety said:

Oldbear83 said:

Carlos Safety said:

Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
No, I don't like this idea.
Why not? Please elaborate.
Just being a contrarian. I did not want the board to devolve into group think on this topic.
ISWYDT
OsoCoreyell
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Oldbear83 said:

Carlos Safety said:

Oldbear83 said:

Carlos Safety said:

Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
No, I don't like this idea.
Why not? Please elaborate.
Just being a contrarian. I did not want the board to devolve into group think on this topic.
ISWYDT

Me and 9 others agree with you...



...crap...
HuMcK
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Sort of in that same line of thinking, Lincoln famously filled his cabinet with former political rivals, in part so that he would always have disagreement in his debates. It was a good arrangement while he was President and worked as Lincoln had intended it to, but it kind of lead to us having a President Andrew Johnson.
TWD 1974
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Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
I was anticipating 10th Man to be a Baseball equivalent of the Aggie 12th Man.

Always figure its better to have some ideas going against the herd. Problem with designating the 10th or any number is not everyone is good at coming up with the counter argument. Alternative is a make sure you don't hire based on identical psych evals.
Doc Holliday
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HuMcK said:

Sort of in that same line of thinking, Lincoln famously filled his cabinet with former political rivals, in part so that he would always have disagreement in his debates. It was a good arrangement while he was President and worked as Lincoln had intended it to, but it kind of lead to us having a President Andrew Johnson.
Off the subject, I'm curious what you think of the woke crowd and woke policies?
TechDawgMc
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Oldbear83 said:

It is said that Israel's Mossad has a rule casually known as the Tenth Man Rule. That rule is that if nine men agree on something, the tenth man is required to take the opposing or alternate position. The idea is to avoid groupthink and to seek alternatives rather than take the easy route of going with the flow, especially when stakes are high.

What are your thoughts on this? And could this apply to social discussions? I don't mean that being a troll is a good thing because of this rule, or that opposing the consensus is a license to be offensive, but I do think that sometimes individuals with minority opinions deserve better respect than they get.
Didn't the Mossad idea come out of the '73 war debacle? There was a lot of groupthink around that one.

I think it's a lot more to do with how willing the people at the top are to listen to ideas that don't fit their own. If you can't have active, passionate debate without risking your career, then you won't combat groupthink very well even with a rule like the above. If, on the other hand, people are always encouraged to step forward with views even if they are contrarian, there's much less chance of groupthink.

I would note that sometimes people just like to be the fly in the ointment. I do think you have to ask for data rather than just anecdotes from certain kinds of contrarians.
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