When one is discussing a public controversy, it is always important to be mindful of your audience and the context of your argument. If you are discussing the topic of pro-life and sharing your personal beliefs on such a topic, doing this at a pro-choice rally, would definitely be a crowd-drawing action that would lead to a probably very intense debate. Then if you begin to utilize offensive language and opinions about said audience, yo will probably be physically assaulted in the process. Being able to not only read the room and the context of your scenario are priceless actions that can secure the success in the discussion of a Public Controversy.
Once that is out of the way, making sure that all biases towards the subject and fact-checking out the wazoo is the next step. You HAVE to make sure that your logos is solid, otherwise you are making yourself open to criticism and people claiming your points are invalid or are not proven. I cannot stress enough that each fact is thoroughly researched and backed up… When I was in a formal debate last year for my AP Lit class, we were up against what we thought was going to be a really intense opponent, but the day of the debate, the other team either did not cite their facts (incidentally from Al Gore’s the Inconvenient Truth) or they did not do so in a way that was fool-proof like my team did. And guess who won that debate on that one single detail? Yup, we did.
Another device that can be helpful, especially towards general audiences that tend to not have a collective history on the topic at hand, would be pathos! Finding ways to become emotionally stimulating can help any case for the argumentative approach to a public controversy. If the audience is emotionally invested in the cause, action towards your thesis and supporters will arise from your audience. These are some guidelines for sharing public controversies.