Showing posts with label firing line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label firing line. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2017

The art of debate



"Open to debate" seems an odd title for a book published in 2016, the year of the tweeted insult-campaigns and the clashing mobs in streets and campuses.

Yet, it is the title of a book about what political debate used to be and arguably, can be again. Heather Hendershot remembers how William F. Buckley single-handedly took the Right-wing debate from the racist slur to Thomas Paine and Christopher Hitchens.

Here's a sample of what Buckley's debate used to be:



The left field suffered some casualties with the demise of Charlie Rose, but still has some examples like the Munk debates



Or those organized by the BBC:



Just select your sources look beyond cable talking heads parroting party lines and "alternative facts".

Good debates educate and train your intellect, but mostly, your civility.