The general argument made by Art Markman in his work Controversy and Conversation is that controversial topics causes discomfort among people. More specifically, he argues that topics generate controversy, which has two different effects. One effect he writes about is how the energy of a controversial topic spurs people up to want to talk about it. In contrast, the other effect is that as a topic gets more controversial, it leads to increased discomfort in talking about it. In this passage, Markman is suggesting that highly controversial topics leads to discomfort. In conclusion, Markman’s belief is that people should expose themselves more to controversial topics, so they can create/gain a better understanding of each other. In my view, Markman