From Paul Carroll, 104 London Debaters
A news series has come on BBC Radio 4 which explores thinking and reasoning about contentious issues in current affairs. Presented by The Economist's Anne McElvoy and featuring conflict-resolution consultant Gabrielle Rifkind, Across The Red Line is for for anyone who needs to communicate. The show examines "the point at which our own certainties come under challenge."
As a charter-member of the UK's only Toastmaster club dedicated to debate, I recommend listening--as the program suggests curious listening--to the exchange and the analysis.
What we practice in a debate club is making the best possible case for the position we're given. The collective effort of the debaters should result in the audience thinking that they have a real choice to make, and not between good and evil.
After all, people you're likely to encounter who are willing to engage you in debate are not going to be evil. They may be wrong, but then it's your place to convince the audience (jury, customers, market participants, citizens) of that. We don't simply contradict each other! We highlight our common ground so that we're engaging each other rather than talking past each other.
This is fruitful in the world outside the debating club. What you'll find when you examine an issue where you disagree with another is that you have some common ground. For example, you agree that "X" is an issue, that there's a problem connected to it and that there are different ways of solving the problem. For instance "X" can be a foreign policy towards N. Korea, education funding or whether single people should be allowed to adopt children. You don't even have to say that your opponent's solution is the worst thing in the universe. You do need to show that your solution is better, whether that's faster, cheaper, fairer, helps more people, harms fewer people, or some combination of these.
McElvoy, a veteran of many public debates admits that "We panelists can end up being more interested in chasing applause or getting a point over on the opposition than we are in exploring the trickiest parts of a subject."
When you're watching a good debate you should see competing truths and then you've go to decide which is more important. As PBS's Fred Friendly once said of public broadcasting, and this applies to debate, "We're not here to make up anybody's mind but to make the agony of decision making so intense that you can escape only by thinking."
Listen to past episodes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m2bj1/episodes/guide
