My rules of debate

Well, originally I was going to write about my argumentativeness, but I got off on a tangent on debates. Not debates like you would see on a debate team. Rather, the kind you would encounter in splendid converstaion. So here are my rules.

#1 The easiest thing is that it has to be a subject that is interesting. Really the only thing that I could imagine falling into this category would be where people are talking way over my head and I can't picture it in my mind. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I couldn't spin to be an interesting topic of discussion with the right person.

#2 There need to be two sides of an argument. This is a general rule. It can be bypassed, but you have to have a couple people willing to play both sides of the story. When you are debating with someone over the same topic on the same side, you'll have to come up with your own counter arguments. While this works and can still get you new ideas and trains of thought, its not as good as actually having someone with that opinion.

#3 Have at least an idea of what you're talking about. You don't need to be an expert, but you have to be able to challenge the ideas that are being presented to you. Otherwise its a one sided conversation. This is great a lot of times, but more often people talk about superficial things that are not on this same level of deep conversation.

#4 Both parties need to truly be open minded. This is a critical rule. Each person needs to know they are not trying to convert the other to their idea of thinking, but rather convey their own thoughts on the issue in a way the other can understand. Too often, this is the piece that people forget and it becomes a bludgeoning match without any new thoughts.

As a side note, just because someone is liberal, it doesn't mean they are open minded. And just because someone is conservative, it doesn't mean they are close minded. Please remember that.

#5 The last part of a good debate is the structure. You start off with a main argument. It can be as simple as "That guys mullet is awesome." The other side would obviously be the negative of that. From there you will make a point like, "Its a mullet, but he can still get the girls, therefore it must be awesome." The other side will make a counter argument to this. Don't get hung up on the same small points over and over, and don't make lame arguments that have no substance to them. Then repeat this process.

If both of you follow these rules, your conversations will traverse a very wide range of topics. Generally.

So if anyone wants to practice, let me know and we'll go have some good conversations over some chai.