A Short Post

Not usually one for this, today I found myself addicted to a rather lengthy online thread populated primarily by two repeated posters. One was a member of Occupy Canada, speaking out against fascism in all its forms. The other was an individual who disagreed with the first and his ideas, believing that Canada is nowhere near the level of a true fascist state and that the Occupy movement is an over-exaggerated waste of time.

The point, however, is not the arguments. The point is that the Occupy Canada representative made clear, well-reasoned arguments where premise led to conclusion, responded to each counter-argument succinctly and consecutively, and demonstrated a decent command of the English language. His opponent, on the other hand, peppered his comebacks with swear words, personal insults, and every fourth or fifth word of each paragraph was misspelled.

For Christmas, I received a book that transcribed the recent Toronto-based public debate between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens on the subject of religion. I loved the present as it touched two of my deepest passions: 1. Theological Debate, and 2. Feeling smarter than people. This second one became more prevalent the further I read.

Granted, the time allotted for each argument was brief (first problem, right there...seriously, five thousand years of human development and we come to "tell me how religion has made the world better/worse in five minutes or less". You're basically inviting immature argument...or worse, snappy sound-bytes, but more on that later). Still, one would have hoped that two of the most advanced minds of our time could have come up with something even slightly orginal.

Blair: "Love"
Hitchens: "War"
Blair: "Aid in Africa"
Hitchens: "AIDS in Africa"
Blair: "Mother Teresa"
Hitchens: "Mother Teresa" (that one was at least slightly clever)

It went on as such for the duration. I lost count of how many times they brought up Israel and Ireland. It isn't that these aren't important points, to be sure, but they aren't particularly original. Worse, they aren't really points that can be argued with. No one is going to argue against Charity and in favour of Genocide. (Simpsons Season 4: "Amber, do you think the bill of rights is a good thing or a bad thing?" "Um......GOOD thing [bats eyelashes]"). The purpose of the debate was to argue the cause, not the effect. If they had really wanted to convince me, one or other of them should have been arguing that religion was what INSPIRED the things they were talking about (good or bad, depending on the viewpoint). But in the total of twenty minutes they each had, they barely even scratched the surface.

The fact is, argument is dead. It's been a moderately-paced process, confined largely to the latter half of the twentieth century. Can you imagine a time (and it did exist) when crowds gathered in town halls to watch a two-hour debate? In the nineteenth century, that was a "movie"! The advent of television brought the same info-tainment into the home, but the results were unexpected...suddenly the content of the argument mattered less than how the speaker looked on camera. 24-hour news reels (which I have previously lambasted) made it necessary to not only always have an off-the-cuff remark, but frequently to become mindlessly repetitive when original ideas ran dry. Human beings became broken records, even after they didn't use records anymore.

And now we have the internet. Unregulated, ungoverned. There are no rules, no guidelines. Anyone who wants to can splash their opinion out there for all to see (yes, I know, myself included). This is a wonderful thing; it means that debate is no longer confined to people with political power or money. If you have a good idea, there is an inexpensive way to make it public (i.e. beyond your drinking buddies). This is what enables the so-called 99% to be heard.

But there's a problem...there are no rules, no guidelines. Anyone who wants to can splash their opinion out there for all to see (yes, I know, myself included). And if you make an argument that I don't like, no matter how well-thought out or reasoned, I can come back with "Ya well u r a idiott" and post it at the same level, in the same font and style as whatever you have written. And if you're pure of heart, you will dismiss it and continue with your intellectual defence. Then again, after 1785 posts of the same derogatory slur (oh, forgot to mention, there are no time limits; you can post as often as you want, all that matters is your upload speed) you, too, might become worn out and drop down to my level.

Suddenly, "x+y=z" becomes "Your a f***ING idiot" (try getting away with that in a math class). It's retroactive, too...look at the Republican debates on television these days. What had once been a forum for educated discussion has degenerated to the same cynical mudslinging one would expect on a Facebook wall. Who can say the most pithy, memorable thing in the least amount of time? It's one of the worst fallacies in debate: attacking the debater instead of their argument. And it seems to be the order of the day.

There are reasons for this, of course, many reasons. It easier to curse at someone than to actually sit down and think out a reasonable statement. There are so many public forums nowadays that you almost HAVE to reduce your arguments to a single sentence; otherwise people will scroll down to the next item. No one bothers to read anything of length (frankly, I'm very impressed that you've gotten this far! Good for you, mate!). And, of course, the real bugbear of society...lack of proper education. No one argues properly because no one is taught how, and the standard is not maintained in the world at large.

Please, please, PLEASE make a counter-argument to anything I've said that you disagree with. And PLEASE make it even more long-winded than I am, full of big words that I need to look up in a dictionary...because debate is, at the end of the day, about learning things beyond what is contained in your own mind. You don't have to agree with your opponent...but just maybe the process will open you to new ideas that you otherwise would never have had.

And please, everybody, use the damn apostrophe key. It's getting lonely.