You could put me in a debate competition and give me the position of defending the statement “The earth is round”, and I would get eaten alive. Every single time in my life that I have tried to conflict and argue a subject, even one that I am fluent in, I get torn to shreds. Especially amusing is when I try to debate politics. Hahahaha!!!!! When growing up, my brothers and I were never allowed to argue, my dad would tell us to “be quiet and try to get along”. Excuse me for my tear jerking therapy statement, but it is true. I bet this certainly has something to do with my debating skills.
One time I was discussing religion and my stance was that Christians are pretty pompous and egotistical because they believe that their beliefs are right and all the other religions in the world are wrong. Check out this quote from an independent group that gathers statistics:
A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200: there are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. 34,000 separate Christian groups have been identified in the world.
It seems even the Christians are unable to agree with each other. So anyway, in my discussion with this person, I asked “why did you pick Christianity out of 270 choices”. “Because it is the best choice and only one that is right” was his answer. Considering the fact that Christianity represents only 30% of the world, his answer seems rather pompous and rude. As always, I went on to lose this debate since religions are based on faith. You can’t argue facts with faith. If you get a religious person in a corner they usually just start ranting versus from the bible until you wander off. But I’m no different, I’ll continue to use logic until I’m blue in the face.
Have you ever seen anybody change their mind in a debate based on the other person’s argument? “Bob, you are right! I never thought about that, I now I see I am wrong and you are right”. It’s never happened. People debate and argue, never giving in even to the death. I’ve never seen a single person back down and change sides.
In summary, my debating method now consists of just agreeing with everybody even if I know they are dead wrong. My motto is “unless somebody could get hurt, there is no advantage to arguing with people”. Aggressively trying to convince other people of your opinions is really just an act of insecurity. Those who are secure with where they are in life usually sit back and watch the fight while smiling. Now, quickly I would like to point out an exception to all this; if you are simply goofing around with your friends and say something like “bush is a no talent ass clown”, that’s more of a fun sport among friends. Obviously you cant prove that bush has ever been employed by a circus. Additionally, sometimes it is a good idea to start a debate with a loud opinion in order to get people stirred up and thinking. Sometimes the ensuing arguments can bring new facts to the surface.
