Who won that presidential debate? That's what debates are for. Debates take place within the structure of contest.
Do you know that formal debating contests conclude at the university level. There are no "world debates" as in "world sports" - no Olympics of Debates. Why is that? Why is this skill cast aside after university?
The corporate environment is full of circumstances that have debates. We learned everything but debating - problem-solving, decision-making, cost-benefit analysis, facilitation skills. We had all kinds of courses and methods. Things were not looked at in the form of the debate.
What makes us think politicians should be able to debate intelligently with no training? Would that be an explanation for the House of Commons' behaviour? There is screaming and hurling of insults vs. arguments for or against something.
If the normal political discourse is anything but debating, how could we expect a good result from politicians debating? There might be all kinds of ground rules about cross-talk, interruptions and barrelhouse cheering and applause of the audience.
With the really big gap of no fact-checking, the Thursday debate itself failed, not just the politicians.
The final judgement? I found an article with scores on various things. Joe Biden did poor - a score of 1.99 out of 5, Donald Trump did about average - 3.04 out of 5.
Trump's mental fitness score went from 2.79 to 2.88 after the debate. Is that sad or worrisome? And then take the fit for office score - Biden's is 2.8 and Trump's is 2.6.
I prefer the CBC radio program "The Debaters" with notable comedians and personalities of the day taking sides for and against a topic. Here are a few examples:
Lighthouse keeping is a dream profession Every city or town needs a Local newspaper Maple syrup is superior to honey Mosquitoes are the most annoying insect It's never too late to get divorced Fake plants are superior to real plants
We went to a Blue Jays game once and this picture comes from the game. I think it applies here: we all surrender to the political mess known as debating. Make it go away.
No comments:
Post a Comment