Quote:
Originally posted by George
PLEASE do not belittle this debate, it is not pointless
Geo.
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I dont believe that the point was to belittle the DEBATE going on in the threads. However, not all of these posts are debates. When it gets to the point where people opposed don't want to state their side for fear of being blacklisted in a community that they respect, where is the DEBATE in that? If people want to have a rational debate about this whole issue, not I or anybody else have a problem with it. However the bashing of teams that I have seen by veterans and rookies, mentors and students alike has saddened and at times even sickened me, not because they might not have a valid point, but because I very much feel we have degressed towards the grade school tactics of pointing and saying "you're wrong and I'm right" This debate didnt need to have the specific teams mocked and hurt to prove a point. The purpose of debate is to convince people to at least look at their opinions and be open to change. Open debate is often structured and measured by somebody or something. On here however that structure isnt so present. There really isnt anybody but your own peers to say "umm that might have been a little bit off topic". In debate, you refute your opponent's opinions by adding more valid points of your own, or you provide substance and backing for your own points in the manner of specific cases. Simply disagreeing, name calling, and adding no solid evidence to back up your assertions is no form of debate. Frankly some of what has been going on in these four threads isnt a "debate". Its argumentation for the sake of arguing, or statements in order to protect yourself from being blacklisted. I'd be the first to agree that a healthy debate never hurt anything but possibly some of the debaters egos. However, I dont see the whole of what has been occuring as a healthy debate.