In Debating, Emotion or Logic?

So, yesterday, I did the most controversial debate... Well, for myself at least. I had to propose the motion that "This House Would Ban Video Games..." Personally, when hearing this, my whole argument for opposing this motion was laid out, simply, clean and subconsciously... I play video games... A lot... And I would consider myself as a rather hardcore gamer, but not that hardcore as to enter competitions and such. I've played, easily a total of 500+ hours in the past half-year itself, and I would argue to the ends of life to prevent the banning of video games, but as fate made it, my house was to propose the motion, and for the sake of the future, I volunteered to debate for my house - bad choice...

Being the third and last speaker, my job was to rebut the arguments of the opposition, but being recently interested in persuasion techniques, I decided to try and use the persuasion techniques more than my normal sarcastic factual and demeaning methods. It was just for general interest that I would try to apply the persuasion techniques that I had learned, more or less and among them were :

• Speak in affirmative
• Create Scarcity and Urgency
• Talk fast
• Be cocky

These were my actual notes that I wrote to use in my debate. However, trying to implement some other things I've learnt such as leaving the audience with an emotional impact to remember as well as the fact that apparently westerners are easy to influence emotionally, I tried to make a more emotional debate by not saying much but through constant emphasis, repetition and tone. I could play the emphasis and tone part oddly well, but the repetition and the rest, I needed to write it down cause I am not that kind of person. Also, I tried to play aggressive alongside with the fast talk. This was, more or less, what I said for the debate:

"So, think of the children and think of the future generation. Listen to that voice screaming in your head, and for the sake of humanity... Stop this madness before it grows... So, I say, BAN VIDEO GAMES! And abolish them before they creep into your house and infect your loved ones! Stop them for the sake of your brothers and your sisters that we may live in an era of peace and shun away this madness!"

So... yeah... Played right, I put forward the most emotional speech the school has heard, apparently... The thing that stuck, of course, was the part about the children. The effects of that, however, caused a major influence to the audience. I played my cards right and that made a huge difference. Now, a slight reminder that I think most people would vote against this motion beforehand, especially since the audience were mostly teenagers and generally as well I think most people would not like video games to be banned...

So, what was the results from the audience? (Drum roll, please...)

Almost 75% of the audience voted to ban video games!

That's great, amazing! It was a clear difference that most people voted to ban video games (it was of course, not solely due to me) but it was influential. My speech worked to persuade the audience, leaving a great impact on them in voting for our house. 

However, overall, the judges were to decide on the real winners and that was something I did not know about... If the judges were in consideration a less emotional speech would have been made and surely enough, because I did not say much and went over time, it became a factor to our defeat... To the judges, the marks were close, but ultimately, we lost. So, what can I conclude? Persuasion is not all that is needed to win a debate.

Hence, to debate, a good combination of emotion and logic is needed to attain the best results. You must convey a good message to the factual people but also appeal emotionally to the audience and judges. This creates the ideal speech especially for the last speaker. Emotion should not solely overrule your speech but should but placed side by side with a good argument. Also, timing... and teamwork is really important apparently...

I'm not sure why I'm analyzing what exactly happened with my debate, but it was an interesting topic and the turn of the table really says something to me. I would just like to highlight that actually...

P.S. Columbine High School Massacre is a worthy mention as it did have some good video game linkage but is ultimately due to some other factors

... Everything is Permitted

Following my ramble on the philosophy I hold rather true to heart, the world, today at least, shows no mercy in their actions today. There is a table of ethics, rules and law that disable the anarchists, the true wielders of this world. Now, anarchy is the best symbol of humanity and I am in a few ways an Anarchist, but the true meaning of freedom is exactly stated above that "Everything is Permitted", so tear down the law and break the rules of this world, do as you please and make the best that there is in this world and if someone lands a punch in your eye, you punch him back, wherever you land your punch, it entirely lies up to you - though I suggest the throat, to end their life.

So, now you withdraw, all of a sudden, on the law of Anarchy going like "Woah! Calm down, there's no need to kill a person". Well, I do as I please and Anarchy is true freedom after all. Freedom to do as I please and that "Everything is Permitted". Following this mindset, every person, living creature and entity has this mindset. Now, let the insecurity flow into you that at any moment, the person next to you will lash out for no particular reason and bash your head to the ground. Oh, but wait, not every human is that sadistic… So, I should be fine right? The answer – No! The question whether or not you are fine, that is proof enough that you doubt that person in that situation and in a situation where everyone and everything around you is a possible threat, the general-mentality becomes “It’s you or me!”

This is where the issue becomes larger; True Anarchy will never succeed as without order, mayhem is but the shadows in the street, devouring everything that is not light, destroying all that is good and leaving all that is dark. I need you to remember then, as you're gasping for you last breath, lying in a ditch of dead bodies that whatever brought you here to lie in this ungodly hellhole was from the lawlessness of humanity, the anarchists...

Whilst the argument might then become to have total control over the actions of humanity, there is little truth in that humanity should be controlled and more importantly, yourself, it should remain constant that indeed the statement “Everything is Permitted” is the truth. Every action that has brought you here today is due to a cause and effect chain and there is argument that life is mostly luck and a play of who is smarter, has the better genes and such, let me remind you that when you had that very important exam that was going to change your life, what did you do?

Now, realizing that the belief of Anarchy will bring humanity to ruin and that every action you take has an effect, what is the point of the quote “Everything is Permitted”? The quote itself should bring meaning that you are allowed to do as you please, but realize the consequence yourself. That statement is just to ask you to stop, think for a moment again, what you are doing. The world loves to drink and get drunk, yet, is that really for the best? Is that really what you want, to bring a harmful substance into yourself resulting in the possible harm to all around you for the sake of fun? Rationally, of course, you wouldn’t even think of the consequence but instead to act at the spur of the moment as the saying “Carpe Diem” goes, we should seize the day.

The point though, is not to be a buzz kill, but to think occasionally and especially at critical decisions, the impact of your actions. This should however, not limit your own actions but you should keep awareness of your actions. The fact that you were high and angry is not a valid excuse for the murder of an innocent and ultimately it leads down to the cause of this… Your own actions…

Lastly, I can possibly write more in-depth articles explaining in much more detail the philosophy I hold within the words “Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted” but I just want you to realize, for even a moment, that reality is not a movie, you don’t sit by the coach and watch it as it flies past. Remember that everything you see might not even be the truth and that every action you take, brings a consequence and finally, then can you realize, the depths of life.

Nothing is True...

Since the start of this year, I've been more or less forced to learn a new subject known as Theory of Knowledge and yes, it is intriguing but not necessarily useful. The subject talks about critical thinking and how we know what we know and whether or not it is true. For instance, the famous picture of a boy sleeping between the graves of his parents turns out to be no more than a hoax. The media blasted around with the news surrounding the picture and how cruel things in Syria was and how this little child lost his parents, and more crap around it, but in the end, it was revealed to be a lie. This particular set of news is revealed to be a lie and the fact that it is was believed to the moment of the truth is something that not many people realize is the power of the media.

Now, the media is a known tool for spreading news, ideas and mostly lies, but how persuasive is the media? The answer - Very! This goes with proof of course, one hanging in the above paragraph but the other lies within this picture


This picture is as good of a representation of what the media actually is. The media controls what they show you, the viewers, to subliminally control the way you think about that situation. By showing you the small narrow corridor of the supposedly horrible situation, they make you think of the negatives of it.

So, what is the point of me rambling on the media? 

It is just for me to say that Nothing is True...

Now, the full quote is actually "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted" from the Assassin's Creed game, however, in this post, I would like to focus primarily on the fact that "Nothing is True..." While looking at the above paragraphs and thinking that maybe all I'm referring to is the media, that is not true. What I want to focus on is the unreliability of everything we know. Starting off the media as the midpoint, I would like to avoid more complex ideas but briefly touch on it. A simple question of the origin of maths and whether it is true or not should suffice the thought process of this.

Having known the idea of closed-mindedness, it is best to think that no matter how open-minded you think you are, there is most likely a biased decision due to other factors that I don't really want to talk about. The depth of philosophical thinking that comes with the idea that "Nothing is true..." follows a duality pattern much like the paradox of "This statement is false". One can never truly understand the depth of such paradox.

Hence, what id the purpose of "Nothing is True..."?

The purpose is to have no other purpose than to be a reminder to the world that not everything we see, hear, or touch is true. There are obvious things that are not true such as lies and so on, but the recipients of these words can interpret them in whichever way they want, being as low as to observe the world and think whether they should believe it or not or the depths of the absolute denial of all things existing.

However, having said most of these and not exploring the idea more, I urge anybody that reads this to stop for a moment, release all worldly bounds and think. The depths of this world is much deeper than you know and that everything in this world has a substance behind it. A story might have much more background to it than one could ever observe but with a little intuition and effort, one can uncover much more than one expected.

It is not too much of an effort to think, with imagination that the world is actually the infinite possibility of lies. Nothing is true in this world and nothing will be. So, the limit of the world is only the amount of effort you wish to put into it, so be creative,be positive but carry out life knowing "Nothing is True..."