So, someone would decide on a topic that has very clear-cut sides (not likely a topic that has some sort of middle-of-the-road compromise that would make everyone happy). Then everyone that was participating would be
assigned a side - and hopefully several people would be debating the side that they don't actually agree with. I like doing this sometimes because it's fun for me to see if I can actually do it. Like, if I can step outside of my own beliefs for a moment and put together a good, coherent argument for the other side. When I first signed up for these forums I tried doing that a couple of times but then everyone thought that that's how I really felt about topics, and so I stopped because I didn't want people getting the wrong impression. But in a thread like this, your real beliefs don't matter, you're just debating for the sake of debate and you won't get judged by what you argue for or against.
I'm not suggesting anything as formal as like, a point system or anything. Just having to debate something on a side you wouldn't normally choose. It's challenging, and I find it fun - though I admit to being a big geek. Also, it can solve some of the problems the Debate Club has from time to time with almost everyone agreeing so the debate dies, or one person frantically tries to argue against 25 other people that are all against his/her ideas.
So, the poll's up there, and also please give me some feedback on this idea. I didn't want to start anything without being sure some people would be interested, so yeah... Thanks
This post has been edited by Spoon Poetic: 04 October 2007 - 05:08 PM
I am writing about Jm in my signature because apparently it's an effective method of ignoring him.