For no particular reason, I am thinking about the practice of Debate, as it is popularly understood, today.
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For no particular reason, I am thinking about the practice of Debate, as it is popularly understood, today. One good starting point is here: https://bsky.app/profile/joestieb.bsky.social/post/3lypywex7c22r
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For no particular reason, I am thinking about the practice of Debate, as it is popularly understood, today. One good starting point is here: https://bsky.app/profile/joestieb.bsky.social/post/3lypywex7c22r
There is currently a popular understanding that “debate” in the context of academia is a practice of intellectual MMA, where two people enter the Marketplace Of Ideas, and only one leaves.
This is counterfactual to what “debate” actually *is* in college, which is a club you go to in order to learn how to spot bullshit.
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When you participate in a refereed debate, according to actual rules and stuff, you are often *assigned* a position. You do not take your own convictions and defend them by annihilating your opponent with Facts and Logic, you search for evidence and construct arguments and build a case in a position that *you may or may not agree with*, to illustrate how it is possible to build really good debate performances around ideas *you believe are wrong*.
Talk to anyone who participated in National Speech & Debate or some similar organization. Ask them what they think of the current crop of intellectual “debaters”, particularly the ones who tour college campuses. Their attitude is basically that of someone who doesn’t like pro wrestling talking about pro wrestling.
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There is currently a popular understanding that “debate” in the context of academia is a practice of intellectual MMA, where two people enter the Marketplace Of Ideas, and only one leaves.
This is counterfactual to what “debate” actually *is* in college, which is a club you go to in order to learn how to spot bullshit.
When you participate in a refereed debate, according to actual rules and stuff, you are often *assigned* a position. You do not take your own convictions and defend them by annihilating your opponent with Facts and Logic, you search for evidence and construct arguments and build a case in a position that *you may or may not agree with*, to illustrate how it is possible to build really good debate performances around ideas *you believe are wrong*.
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It’s fake, it’s rigged, it is *obviously* fake & rigged if you know what the actual rules of the sport are supposed to look like, and it is *extremely* embarrassing that elected officials find this sort of communication convincing or valuable.
More people need to be taught formal rhetoric and participate in actual debate clubs so that we can increase understanding that the fraudulent presentation of “debates” can be ignored and dismissed as they should be, rather than misleading elected officials with what amounts to freshmen-level stage magician rhetorical tricks.
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Talk to anyone who participated in National Speech & Debate or some similar organization. Ask them what they think of the current crop of intellectual “debaters”, particularly the ones who tour college campuses. Their attitude is basically that of someone who doesn’t like pro wrestling talking about pro wrestling.
It’s fake, it’s rigged, it is *obviously* fake & rigged if you know what the actual rules of the sport are supposed to look like, and it is *extremely* embarrassing that elected officials find this sort of communication convincing or valuable.
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More people need to be taught formal rhetoric and participate in actual debate clubs so that we can increase understanding that the fraudulent presentation of “debates” can be ignored and dismissed as they should be, rather than misleading elected officials with what amounts to freshmen-level stage magician rhetorical tricks.
@glyph you can even have some fun with it. I once rolled into a debate competition hung over and with no prior debate experience with my also hung over partner at the time, formed a debate team with two other like minded hung over people we found, and took second. we lost to the team that took first because it's really hard for a mostly male appearing team to beat an emotional appeal from four young cis women arguing against their own bodily autonomy
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@glyph you can even have some fun with it. I once rolled into a debate competition hung over and with no prior debate experience with my also hung over partner at the time, formed a debate team with two other like minded hung over people we found, and took second. we lost to the team that took first because it's really hard for a mostly male appearing team to beat an emotional appeal from four young cis women arguing against their own bodily autonomy
@glyph I've never really felt the need to watch political debates after that. I know the score.
Also iirc my roommate's team of well practiced debaters who practiced for the debate took 4th and he was so mad lol.
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@glyph I've never really felt the need to watch political debates after that. I know the score.
Also iirc my roommate's team of well practiced debaters who practiced for the debate took 4th and he was so mad lol.
@aeva it really doesn't take much experience for most people to understand what's going on. I would say most people wouldn't figure out the whole game on their *first* outing, but it doesn't take long :)
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@aeva it really doesn't take much experience for most people to understand what's going on. I would say most people wouldn't figure out the whole game on their *first* outing, but it doesn't take long :)
@glyph my strat was to make sure every person on my team had a different set of non-contradictory talking points to focus on
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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Contro il ponte, contro la repressione! Solidarietà agli arrestati No Ponte (con gli indirizzi per scrivere ai compagni e indicazioni per il sostegno economico)
@anarchia
Riceviamo e diffondiamo: CONTRO IL PONTE, CONTRO LA REPRESSIONE SOLIDARIETÀ AD ANDRE, BAK E GUI Negli scorsi giorni trehttps://www.rivoluzioneanarchica.it/contro-il-ponte-contro-la-repressione-solidarieta-agli-arrestati-no-ponte-con-gli-indirizzi-per-scrivere-ai-compagni-e-indicazioni-per-il-sostegno-economico/
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i wonder to what extent astronomy is an insomnia friendly career still, or if it's mostly just diurnals looking at spreadsheets in fluorescent offices these days
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@joncruz like CoPilot!
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@jannem meh you can't avoid a few sell-outs.
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@siriusfox is this because real astronomers don't actually look at the sky anymore
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@Gina
The female front-runner for the next Japanese prime minister; and a couple of the most prominent female Swedish politicians are all far-right conservatives, with hearty helpings of religious fanaticism in one or two cases.I'll just skip the matriarchy bit if it's ok with you.
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Verità sulle violenze alla Stella Maris!
@anarchia
Dopo la pausa estiva riiniziano le udienze del processo e ripartono i presidi sotto il tribunale! Martedì 23 settembre 2025, ore 10:30presso il Tribunale di Pisa in Piazza della RepubblicaPresidio di solidarietàBasta abusi! Basta uso del tappeto contenitivo!Verità sulle violenze...Vedi l'articolo
https://www.rivoluzioneanarchica.it/verita-sulle-violenze-alla-stella-maris/
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@evan it's why I dont bother setting up "smart completion" for most languages. I hit the magic key combo and Emacs searches through all my open buffers to see "ok, last time you had typed this sequence of characters, you then followed it with this result". And another combo will cycle through other options starting with most recent. Kinda works like magical "I know what you need" copy-n-paste.
