I spent a year in\u00a0Collegiate\u00a0Debate, it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in school. I often lament that not everyone had the same experience. Debate is\u00a0excellent\u00a0for training one to think and communicate quickly and critically, It is an introduction to logic class on steroids, and it\u00a0inbeds the information it teaches is a very permanent part of the brain.<\/p>\n
To this day I can communicate with\u00a0debaters\u00a0more quickly and easily than almost any type of person. Both of us have been trained how to relate\u00a0universal\u00a0implications of\u00a0intricate\u00a0government decisions in 5 minutes or less, so when the topic of Nuclear\u00a0disarmament\u00a0comes up and they can say “Nuke\u00a0Prolif\u00a0increases MAD which reduces GTNW’s likleyhood” and I’ll know\u00a0exactly\u00a0what they mean. Then I can say “Martyrdom” \u00a0and they’ll know\u00a0exactly\u00a0what I mean. Debate over.<\/p>\n
That means when we’re in a group arguing about whether to go to Panera or Carl’s for lunch she can say “CP Chipotle” \u00a0and I can say “No disads” and we can turn the car around and start heading there before anyone else has\u00a0figured\u00a0out what just happened.<\/p>\n
It’s a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n
One particularly\u00a0powerful\u00a0concept from debate is called “P-Con” it stands for\u00a0Performative\u00a0Contradiction. Here’s how it works:
\nSuppose you get the short end of the stick and are assigned to defend some terrible proposition. Maybe you are against a\u00a0stimulus\u00a0bill which, though expensive, is really the only choice we are to prevent the stock market from crashing. Well you know it, and you know the other team knows it and is preparing all sorts of arguments against any criticisms you can come up with for the bill because after all wasting money is better than everybody starving.<\/p>\n
Suppose then that you get a brilliant idea, instead of\u00a0opposing\u00a0the bill on the grounds that it’s\u00a0insufficient\u00a0somehow, or to expensive, or full of pork, you oppose it on the grounds that it will save the terrible american\u00a0capitalistic\u00a0system, and in doing so, you render all of their preparation useless.
\nSuppose you speak\u00a0passionately\u00a0from the podium about the evils of capitalism and the free market society. You demonstrate that our\u00a0rampant\u00a0consumerism is destroying the planet and multiple third world countries, you enrapture the audience until they are eating out of your hand believing that if they continue to worship the almighty dollar they will never\u00a0truly\u00a0be free, and the only thing we can do to save ourself is crash the economy as soon as possible!<\/p>\n
Then suppose your opposition asks as a POI “Say where did you get those sunglasses?”<\/p>\n
“Oakley\u00a0why?”<\/p>\n
“P-Con”<\/p>\n
You just lost the debate.<\/p>\n
The reason is because it’s now obvious to everyone that you don’t believe a word you are saying (and if anyone missed it.\u00a0your\u00a0opponent\u00a0will be sure to make it clear to them in his next speech) His argument, which he offered simply by saying that half a word \u00a0“P-Con” is that by reviling yourself as a person who shops for designer eyewear you have betrayed a truth within your heart that you cannot possibly be the anti-capitalistic hippi you claim to be, so even if he doesn’t show your argument is false, you have proven it by persisting to live in contradiction to it.<\/p>\n
And it really is that brutal, P-Con, you lose! This debate is now about your sunglasses.<\/p>\n
This comes up in other ways also:<\/p>\n
Suppose you are assigned to defend same-sex marraige and you happen to mention that “this is a way to ensure equality for the gays”<\/p>\n
“The Gays?” did you mean “The GLBT Community?” P-Con, You Lose.<\/p>\n
Suppose you have built yourself halfway into a Kritik about profanity, and the evils thereof, but you happen to stub your toe as you return to your seat, shouting an\u00a0expletive.<\/p>\n
“What do you just say?” P-Con, You Lose.<\/p>\n
I can’t tell you mow many times I’ve wanted to explain this to non-debaters.<\/p>\n
Say I’m arguing about theology with some friends of mine within earshot of a freshman girl from Point-Loma<\/p>\n
“Ummmm… Excuse me, but like, Arguing is stupid! It’s like, not like, you’re going to convince one another”<\/p>\n
“Oh Yeah, arguing is stupid huh?\u00a0Would\u00a0you like to argue about it?” P-Con! now leave me alone!<\/p>\n
Here’s the point, and I know I took a long time to get to it, but I was having fun.<\/p>\n
Most people do not have the vocabulary to describe what I just described, and if you are a Christian, and you try to tell people about Christ, and you try to counter their arguments You might very well win. Christianity is true which comes in really handy for winning arguments about it. But if you don’t live as if it’s true, If you are a nasty selfish argumentative person, they will not believe you.<\/p>\n
Even if you’re just a little xenophobic, or just a little hypocritical, or you got drunk that one time and kissed that girl you\u00a0shouldn’t\u00a0have… They won’t believe you.<\/p>\n
They might not be able to explain why not, They might not know why not, They might offer other objections that they do understand to what you’re saying, but if you do not get your life straight those objections will never run out, and the people you talk to about Jesus will never believe you, because your life and your words form a performative contradiction so they know that you don’t really believe what you are telling them to.<\/p>\n
P-Con, You lose<\/p>\n
I spent a year in\u00a0Collegiate\u00a0Debate, it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in school. I often lament that not everyone had the same experience. Debate is\u00a0excellent\u00a0for training one to think and communicate quickly and critically, It is an introduction to logic class on steroids, and it\u00a0inbeds the information it teaches is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3],"tags":[414,500,501],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ace-posts","category-debate-lingo","tag-debate","tag-pcon","tag-performative-contradiction"],"yoast_head":"\n