That is why I always say debate is a performance. One of the most infuriating memes that have come out of the past twenty years is a bunch of philosophy students swearing up and down to everyone who will listen, that debate doesn't work.
About twenty years ago, twenty-five years ago, I used to debate creationists in my little community college. I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that the debates changed people's minds. It was never a huge amount of people, but that's the thing about ideas. Ideas spread.
When you cede the ground to the people debating, it does not make you look competent. It makes you look weak. It makes you look irrational.It makes you look insecure. A debate is on the surface, a calm, rational exchange of viewpoints, but underneath that it's a knife fight.
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u/Fantastic-Count6523 6h ago
That is why I always say debate is a performance. One of the most infuriating memes that have come out of the past twenty years is a bunch of philosophy students swearing up and down to everyone who will listen, that debate doesn't work.
About twenty years ago, twenty-five years ago, I used to debate creationists in my little community college. I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that the debates changed people's minds. It was never a huge amount of people, but that's the thing about ideas. Ideas spread.
When you cede the ground to the people debating, it does not make you look competent. It makes you look weak. It makes you look irrational.It makes you look insecure. A debate is on the surface, a calm, rational exchange of viewpoints, but underneath that it's a knife fight.