I have been doing debate as a sport for almost five years. Before I hear all of your voices saying, \u201cQuinn, debate isn\u2019t a sport!,\u201d I want to say: it totally is. What is a sport other than an activity where people compete against each other for the entertainment of themselves and others?*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I rest my case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of cases, debate is an amazing sport.** I can\u2019t think of another sport that teaches the same critical thinking, quick thinking, and public speaking skills. Not to mention the knowledge of current events and history you accumulate over time as a debater. I would by no means be the same person I am today if I did not do debate. I would probably be less annoying and snarky. But I would also know a lot less about the world I lived in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could go on for a while about everything debate has taught me, but what I want to focus on today is what I think is the most important thing I have learned from debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Debate sucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now of course, that is a hyperbolic statement, but I\u2019ve learned from debate that starting your arguments with attention-grabbing hooks is a good practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I mean when I say \u201cdebate sucks\u201d is that debate sucks when you\u2019re trying to change someone\u2019s mind. Debate makes for amazing competitions, but that\u2019s where it should mostly stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is this perception among the general public \u2013 especially among people who believe in the democratic system \u2013 that if only everyone could have civil debates with one another that we would have a perfect society. People think that the best way to convince someone of a belief is by debating them and proving them wrong. When I say people, I also include myself under that umbrella. For a long time, I had this idea stuck in my head that the ideologies of the people I watched in the news and who I listened to on social media would crumble under the overwhelming power of my facts and logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wish we lived in a world where all of that was true, but we unfortunately do not. Strangely, and quite annoyingly, rather than changing their minds when losing an argument, people tend to solidify their own beliefs and push back instead. As put eloquently by Dale Carnegie, \u201cA man convinced against his will\/ Is of the same opinion still.”***\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Debate fundamentally yearns for you to tear down your opponent. It wants you to attack and demolish everything anyone says. Debate is about shooting your opponent\u2019s argument full of holes and demonstrating to them how much water leaks out afterwards. Naturally, when facing an attack, people try to defend themselves. It doesn\u2019t really matter if they\u2019re right, because they\u2019re already implicitly biased towards their own opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stanford researchers conducted an experiment where students who were pro- and anti-capital punishment were gathered and then given two studies. One of the studies had statistics endorsing capital punishment while the other included statistics in opposition. The students in favor of capital punishment reported that the paper in favor of it seemed more credible while the other was unconvincing and questionable. The students against capital punishment did the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, characteristically, the researchers were being sneaky.**** Both of the statistics in the studies were completely fabricated. Nevertheless, not only did neither group of students change their thinking, but they actually came out of the study more strongly convinced of their own beliefs. It ultimately didn\u2019t matter what the studies actually said, it just mattered that their content agreed with the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if the presentation of facts and statistics doesn\u2019t change people\u2019s minds, we must search for another method. Unfortunately for us, debate continues to be unhelpful in this area. Debating with the intent of trying to change someone\u2019s mind is not only pointless and oftentimes counterproductive, but also replaces a much better way of changing minds: empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only person who can actually change your mind is yourself. So if you are attempting to get someone else\u2019s mind to change, you should try to help guide them to changing their mind voluntarily rather than \u201cDESTROYING them with FACTS and LOGIC.\u201d*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adam Grant, an organizational psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests an alternative to debate. His approach focuses instead on recognizing, acknowledging, and validating the views of your conversation partner while simultaneously informing them and pointing out the discrepancies between their opinions and their desired behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Empathy would make a terrible strategy in a debate competition, but proves quite successful in the real world. Treating the opinions of others with nuance and understanding encourages them to do the same for yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe it sounds clich\u00e9, but if your end goal is an idyllic society where everyone agrees on the most logical and empirical beliefs, the path there is empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And hey \u2013 if you don\u2019t agree, feel free to debate with me. I won\u2019t change my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* Ignore the whole \u201cphysical exertion\u201d and \u201cmovement based\u201d parts of the definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
** If you got that transition, you are a debate nerd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*** While also somewhat male-normatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
**** You gotta watch out for those Stanford researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***** I won\u2019t say who I\u2019m quoting here, but you probably know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kolbert, Elizabeth. \u201cWhy Facts Don\u2019t Change Our Minds.\u201d The New Yorker<\/em>, Advance Magazine Publishers, 20 Feb. 2017, www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2017\/02\/27\/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hallquist, Chris. \u201cAccording to Dale Carnegie, You Can\u2019t Win an Argument-and He Has a Point.\u201d LessWrong<\/em>, 30 Nov. 2013, www.lesswrong.com\/posts\/HxWdXMqoQtjDhhNGA\/according-to-dale-carnegie-you-can-t-win-an-argument-and-he. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grant, Adam. \u201cThe Science of Reasoning with Unreasonable People.\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, The New York Times, 31 Jan. 2021, www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/31\/opinion\/change-someones-mind.html. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Carnegie, Dale. \u201cYou Can\u2019t Win an Argument.\u201d How to Win Friends and Influence People<\/em>, Simon & Schuster, New York Etc., 1981. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been doing debate as a sport for almost five years. Before I hear all of your voices saying, \u201cQuinn, debate isn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":1176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-pieces","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1177,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions\/1177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}