[rchaud]

> appeals to emotion in order to drive irrational thinking do not make for constructive debate.

In a perfect world, sure. Real world, you will never have an inherently emotional situation (road safety) where the only voices heard are those of completely detached individuals.

As humans, we have to figure out ways to connect with them, and empathize with what they're feeling. Simply dismissing their concerns as driven by emotion isn't a winning strategy.

[vonmoltke]

Understanding the emotional reactions of people to situations is important. "How would you feel if"-type statements do not do that. They do, and are often intended to, shut down conversation instead of foster it.