If you talked to me about something like religion, or perhaps philosophy, or LGBT, or ethics, or some issues like that, I could probably have a discussion with you for a while on it. If you were arguing against something I am for or vice versa, I'd probably be able to have a cogent debate with you for a while on the matter. But that's in text, on screen, where I have the luxury of time and the internet at my disposal. When it comes to real-life arguments, I find it so much harder.
Take incest. Universally abhorred, but I would put up an argument against someone who vilified a consensual incestuous couple. I would argue here and now on the basis that their love does not hurt anybody, that all the arguments people use ("It's wrong", "It's against nature", "EWWW", "It doesn't work") are exactly the same as the arguments people use to try and "prove" that being gay is wrong. But when it came to trying to argue this in real life surrounded by four people - two of whom violently against the idea and two of them just disturbed by the idea - I just couldn't call those arguments out of my head.
This is a serious flaw. If I can't argue the issues I consider important in real life, then how am I going to stick up for anything I believe in? If I find it difficult to argue anything without using the internet and without having time to think through and measure my responses, then how will I debate properly?
The same is true of any subject that you care to name that I am interested in, even passionate about, even one that I debate about a lot. I know why I think what I do; ask me to verbalise it, put me on the spot about it, and I'll struggle a lot more.
~Love Leonidas
Take incest. Universally abhorred, but I would put up an argument against someone who vilified a consensual incestuous couple. I would argue here and now on the basis that their love does not hurt anybody, that all the arguments people use ("It's wrong", "It's against nature", "EWWW", "It doesn't work") are exactly the same as the arguments people use to try and "prove" that being gay is wrong. But when it came to trying to argue this in real life surrounded by four people - two of whom violently against the idea and two of them just disturbed by the idea - I just couldn't call those arguments out of my head.
This is a serious flaw. If I can't argue the issues I consider important in real life, then how am I going to stick up for anything I believe in? If I find it difficult to argue anything without using the internet and without having time to think through and measure my responses, then how will I debate properly?
The same is true of any subject that you care to name that I am interested in, even passionate about, even one that I debate about a lot. I know why I think what I do; ask me to verbalise it, put me on the spot about it, and I'll struggle a lot more.
~Love Leonidas
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