* The Debatewise Blog
Topical Meanderings of a Law and Philosophy Student!
My first blog. Kind of a dream and a nightmare all in one. Everyone loves talking about themselves and their own opinions but what other people might think of you is the downside! But I'm going to bulldoze right in anyway!It’s been a topical week. Big questions have been floating around, like why did Madonna and Guy Ritchie break up? There has also been the question of will racism figure in the American elections. Being on the Rapid Response Team has given me the opportunity to look into this Obama situation, the Bradley effect described there is quite interesting. People lying on opinion polls to make themselves look more tolerant. Although, I always thought racists were proud of their hatred, especially in America where everyone seems so out spoken - although that’s probably just the stereotype I have of Americans. I suppose really, despite how tolerant we all like to think we are, everyone has prejudices against some group.
I recently went to New York, and looking lost like a tourist I was amazed at how many city folk stopped, of their own accord, just to help me find my way! I think this sort of experience eliminates prejudice. Which then ties into the idea that the more countries we travel to, the less countries we are prejudiced against. But surely people should not have to prove themselves to limit prejudice?
Boy that’s deep! I think the answer to it all is that it is easier to put a one-sided point across than it is to give an answer, so I'm going to keep debating to avoid having to give answers!
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The Bravest of the Brave
Due to the wonders of modern technology this is being posted as I am somewhere among the peaks of the Annapurna range in Nepal....of course there's no internet up there, i've just instructed the blog to make this live while i'm on holiday next week
It's actually quite relevant that i'm going out there (i'm not just bragging!) as it is the traditional home of the Gurkhas, and their settlement in the U.K is the topic of one of our debates. Even better, an article I wrote based on the debate is feature in a Cambridge University student newspaper The Berry
Feel free to do as I have and use debates as the basis for your articles, essays and anything else you want to write, and if you find us useful a shout-out (in the form of a reference or link) wouldn't go amiss
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Success!
To further what Dave said, the Speakers' Corner Event was undoubtedly a great success. He didn’t mention that we had a few celebrities in our midst as well: Samir Deger-Sen is the 2008 world debating champion, and John Stewart (Plane Stupid) has been named by the Environment Agency as the 82nd most influential green activist of all time - Just one position behind Mahatma Gandhi! With such a line-up I was grateful I wasn’t needed to speak!The Schedule went as follows:
1.20 p.m Cheap flights do more harm than good
FOR: John Stewart (Plane Stupid) AGAINST: Sarah Lynch (rapid response team)
1.40 p.m This house would rather cancel third world debt than bail out an investment bank
FOR: Nick Dearden (Jubilee Debt) AGAINST: Joe Spark (head debate coach at Cardiff)
2.00 p.m This house would build a third runway at Heathrow
FOR: Dave! AGAINST: John Stewart (Plane Stupid)
3.00 p.m This house would have an E.U constitution
FOR: Joe Spark (head debate coach at Cardiff) AGAINST: Steve Radford (Liberal Party)
3.20 p.m This house believes ID cards are a good idea
FOR: Samir Deger-Sen (world debate champion) AGAINST: Guy Herbert (No2ID)
Having attracted stars to speak the Debatewise event also drew in the usual celebrity add-ons - namely crowds, hecklers and zoom lenses. The debate between Jubilee Debt’s Nick Dearden and our own Cardiff University debate coach Joe Spark drew a pretty large and animated crowd, not least because of it’s controversial motion: ‘This house would rather drop Third World debt than bail out an investment bank’. One member of the crowd became so involved that Joe offered him his place on the soapbox and, donning a Debatewise cap, the man proceeded to argue against Jubilee Debt. Now that’s what I call audience participation!
Although I haven’t quite mastered my new baby (the Nikon D40) yet, I did have a play around and managed at least to get some evidence the event took place!
So good times were had all round and I hope to see you all at the next one
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Speakers’ Corner - first report
Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who turned up. John Stewart from Plane Stupid, Steve Radford from the Liberal Party, Nick Dearden from Jubilee Debt, Guy Herbert from No2ID as well as our own fearless debaters Sarah, Joe and Samir. And a particular thank you must go out to Joe who was let down by a friend and had to wander the streets of London all night, yet still managed to keep his wits about him enough to argue in favour of the EU Constitution.It was a great day, the sun shone down, the crowd joined in and we spoke out. The audience seemed to enjoy our approach, and not just because we were the only ones there not banging on about religion. The thing that really worked was the double-headed approach which most thought was more informative than one person preaching.
Speakers' Corner does attract a few interesting characters, most of whom add to the flavour of the event. Besides, you can't have speakers without having people you disagree with. Or think are unhinged.
More info and pics soon.
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1st Debatewise EVENT!
Hi all,I've been a little out of touch recently i'm afraid. Unlike Dave I have not been sitting in a ten foot circle. Well not in the forest anyway...and I have moved around the office...what i'm trying to say is that it's been pretty busy here at debatewise HQ. I'm organising a media event at Speakers' Corner with members from four different campaign organisations, speaking in seven debates.
We've also got some student debaters, the web developer and members of our very own rapid response team coming along to lend a hand. Internet companies can be lonely things, it's rare to meet the people that put in the remote work, so it will be great to put names to email addresses
I'm also pretty excited about using my new digital SLR to photograph the event but that's a whole other story. Probably one with additional 'angry bank manager' character...As a special treat i've pasted below a copy of the press release (not going live for 24 hours at least) - so you heard it here first people!
"On Sunday 12th October from 1-4 p.m the centuries old tradition of Speakers Corner will be subverted in a groundbreaking event. The venue, usually home to lone preachers on soapboxes, will be transformed into an arena for debate on issues of public interest.
Campaigners from Plane Stupid, Jubilee Debt, No2ID and The Liberal Party will debate controversial topics, ranging from Heathrow’s third runway proposals to the European Constitution. Motions will include ‘ID cards are a good idea’ ‘This house would rather cancel third world debt than bail out an investment bank’, and ‘Cheap flights do more harm than good’!
Debatewise.com, the organization behind the event, aim to help the public make informed decisions. Until now this has not been possible at Speakers Corner – the right to freedom of speech has only been used by individuals with an axe to grind. This unique event will generate public discussion of the issues that really matter, putting free speech into practice."
b
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Seems like one's view of who won last night's VP debate is uncannily similar to one's preference for the presidency. Fox News thinks Palin won, the Huffington Post goes for Biden. Nothing surprising in that though, we see what we want to see and disregard the rest. Does make you question the value of debates though doesn't it?Well sort of. Debates, especially political debates, are less about getting people to change their minds than getting them to make up their minds. The key polls are not what Republicans or Democrats thought, but whether the uncommitted voter has been persuaded one way or another.
Early indications are that Biden won this battle. He didn't attack Palin directly – and so couldn't be accused of bullying. He tied McCain to Bush, spoke clearly and succinctly, came across as being highly knowledgeable and actually answered many of the questions.
Palin exceeded expectations, though that wasn't hard given how low they were. However, neutrals aren't yet convinced she's up to the job; a CBS poll found the percentage of people who thought she would make an effective president increased by only nine percent. Biden's score rose by 25 per cent on the same question.
I see this as proof of the value of debating. People looking to make up their mind weren't convinced by the folksy, 'ordinary mom' approach and instead leant towards the person who engaged with the debate. Republicans may have fallen back in love with Palin, but neutrals aren't much more likely to vote for her.
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Back again
You do a lot of thinking when you're sat in a ten foot circle. Especially when you've got no books or music. Especially when you're fasting and need to stop thinking about Kit Kats and Haagen Dazs.Fortunately, we were given a list of questions to answer. Things such as if you had ten years to live what would you do? If you had £10m how would you spend it? Who do you need to forgive and why? Imagine you're on your deathbed looking back, would you be happy with your life? If not, what do you need to do now to change things?
There was lots of talk of endings because the quest signified a ceremonial death and rebirth. There were several things I wanted to let go of (timidity, defensiveness, separateness, and more) but one of the main things I noticed was the thing I wanted to keep.
I saw just how important Debatewise is to me. If I had ten years to live I'd spend it working on Debatewise. If I had £10m to spend I'd invest a substantial amount in the site (as well as get that Bentley of course). And if I looked back from my deathbed and saw Debatewise had been successful I'd be most satisfied indeed.
So the holiday was great. The week in Ibiza was relaxing and the week in France invigorating. It was very tough at times but the challenges were worth facing. I hope the strength gained from them will help me face the challenges ahead.
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New Facebook
The internet is a wierd thing. If you're thinking or feeling a certain way you can act on it 'virtually' - without even moving from your chair. This means whole hosts of people who feel strongly about something ebb and flow through the ether together, having huge sway in the online world, without actually ever meeting each other or convening in physical space. Every so often, sites such as ourselves catch one of these waves of opinion, and it benefits us as it passes.Most recently, one of the biggest shocks to hit the online community has been the new look Facebook, and we've felt the after tremmors here on Debatewise. Less than 24 hours after posting the debate 'Should facebook bring back the old format' (http://www.debatewise.com/debates/525) we had a record number of views of the site, literally double what we had been getting previously. Some of these viewers may never return, but some will, and online controversies such as this seem to drive people to our site to air their views and make thier minds up. All, of course, bringing us that next step closer to reaching critical mass, and that next step closer to producing revenue for charity. So Bebo, Myspace, Youtube....anyone fancy a re-vamp?
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Bloody Monday
That's what they've been calling it, apparently. Yesterday was a very bad Monday for markets, with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. 4,000 office workers leaving Canary Wharf with their belongings in cardboard boxes and thier devastated faces splashed all over the free papers.The latest of the crunch news.But is it really that bad? Office gossip turned to a man spotted in the gym last night...reportedly he was declaring the 'end of the world' was nigh so loudly that the guy exercising next to him had to move. Yes, it's bad. Yes, we're headed for a cold winter. But let's remind ourselves that the economy isn't everything. The press at the weekend was concerned about the suicide rate among high paid lawyers - even the prosperous aren't always happy. So yes let's tighten the purse strings a little, let's guard against excessive consumption, but let's also use this as an opportunity to reasess our values. Those 4,000 suits clutching their cardboard boxes will undoubtedly find it agonising for a while, but perhaps some will wake up one morning, in the not-too-distant-future, and wonder why they were working themselves to the bone only to burn out in their early thirties in the first place...
Sorry not to jump on the 'end is nigh' bandwagon and be yet another prophet of doom, but despite the economic struggles (and the Large Hadron Collider's best attempts to place the earth in a black hole), we are all STILL HERE! Happy Tuesday!
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114% risk of death…
Most of the time at debatewise we try to support our arguments with 'hard facts' and this usually mean statistics. There's no more convincing way to prove your point than to hit your opponent with some numbers. Because numbers can't be argued with...right? Not according to author Michael Blastland, who has produced a series of hilarious and informative 'lessons' on seeing through the statistics which headlines present to as us proven fact. My personal favourites are his teachings on percentages, in particular this gem:"The story: Vitamin E can kill. Supplements cause a 14% increase in mortality, said the man on telly, standing in front of a huge "14%", propped up on a number like the bar of the local.
The flaw: Funny, but wasn't my risk of mortality quite high already? Like, 100%? But no, it's even worse than that. Vitamin E supplements apparently make the end more than certain. For death has become like a footballer, giving it 114% out there today, Brian. "
So for tips on how to debunk statistics in your counter-arguments and a greater insight into the truth behind the news, check it out!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7568929.stm
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Rain days and Sundays no longer get me down
Rain, pah, doesn't bother me at all. And no, I'm not saying that because I'm going on holiday on Wednesday. Well okay, yes I am.The first week I'll be in Ibiza, though I'll be avoiding the closing parties as I'm way too old for all that malarkey now. Plus the following week I'll be spent in a forest in France, sat in a ten foot circle on my own, fasting and meditating, for three whole days. So I don't think it would be wise to add recovery from a week's worth of debauchery to that little mix.
As part of the preparation for the retreat I needed to do a dawn-to-dusk walk in the countryside. Cleverly, I chose yesterday which, as anyone in London will know, was pretty damn wet. However, I remained gloriously dry and warm throughout thanks to my lovely new boots and waterproof clothes.
It got me thinking about the value of having the right tools for the job. I often want to save money and the cheaper alternative can be very tempting – especially in these frugal times. However, I've also never regretted spending big money on important things. The initial cost is high, but the payback is much greater and lasts much longer too.
So is that true for our next major purchase I wonder? We need to move offices and the easiest option is a small office just round the corner. This is a bit of a make-do though. The ideal option is a shared office, but with a dog who must come to work with me, that's not always the easiest thing to pull off. The expensive option is a larger space that's sub-let to various other businesses. A high initial cost, but with the potential for much greater long-term benefits.
Unfortunately, our notice period coincides with my holiday. Which means I either have to decide in the two days before I go, or in the week when I get back. Now there's a relaxing thought to go away with.
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Balls.
I've never really been that interested in football. I collected football cards in primary school but that was because I had worked out people would pay me money for the better ones. Recently though, I've moved into a very footie orientated house. One housemate was semi-pro until injury (Liverpool supporter) and one housemate grew up in the North East (Sunderland). What with that and the debate about Berbatov I have learned a lot about football recently, and am quite enjoying it. Although having watched Manchester City in the last few days I feel a bit like things haven't really changed since school, there's just the same old thrill of collection and the pursuit of financial gain...Click here to add your comment
Man Flu
It turns out men are actually better at dealing with pain than women. I realise this runs contrary to the argument that if men had to go through the agony of childbirth the human race would have died out thousands of years ago but hey, studies say it’s true.And true it could well be. Though I can understand why women think we’re soft, given our propensity to roll around in agony at the first sign of the sniffles. Thing is, men can only admit to needing comfort when we’re ill. We actually need comfort much more often, but to admit so is to admit weakness – and that’s a very bad thing.
Being ill allows us to be needy. It allows us to say we’re not strong because something stronger than us – something stronger than anyone – has taken hold. So we really get into it. This is the one time we ask for our fevered brow to be mopped, for our aches to be soothed. This is the one time we ask to be taken care of.
Someday we may recognise that it’s okay to be a hero and to be weak. That we can be strong and vulnerable. That we can be brave and scared. Will probably take a few gender barriers to be broken first, though.
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Holiday musings
Well, I'm back at Debatewise after a double of whammy of holidays; a week in Italy followed by a lovely August Bank Holiday at home, lovely! Whilst I was away I spent a bit of time watching the Olympic Games and was both surprised and amused at the coverage the event was given on Italian television. Like the BBC, they devoted pretty much the whole daytime schedule to the games, but there the similarity ended. They were only interested in events featuring at least one Italian competitor and any Italian victories were endlessly replayed, while other main events were ignored. This meant I saw the final of the men's Taekwondo (Italians got silver) about five times, but missed Usain Bolt breaking the 200m record because the coverage cut to the Italian team doing synchronised swimming.
I already knew that Italian TV is hilariously bad, but watching their version of the Olympics got me thinking about perspective. The games were a major international event, but they mean very different things from different points of view. For many they were a display of sporting excellence,or an expression of international cooperation: for others they're just an expensive waste of time. In the UK we watched the games thinking about our own prospects for 2012; for other nations their own athletes' success is the most important thing. No matter what the issue, everyone sees it differently from their own particular standpoint, depending on their own beliefs, prejudices and experiences.
That's what makes Debatewise such a great endeavour; it's somewhere that all those diverse points of view can come together to give a full picture of the issues that matter.
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Going for gold
Well, the Olympics are over. The big screen in the office is no longer displaying the athletics, I can no longer admire boxers while using the cross-trainer at the gym, and there is now no excuse for my housemates to insist we miss Corrie to watch the rarely-televised sport of handball (It's not televised for a reason people!!).Whilst the olympics may be over, the debates surrounding them certainly aren't. We've got great debates about whether it's a good idea for us to host 2012 and whether the funding spent on athletes is justified, and these have proved to be the most popular debates this week.
Inspired by team GB our own team of content writers are going for gold too. They've written 7 debates and achieved a record response time of 10 minutes! Keep up the good work people
Betony
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Decisions, decisions
I had a drink with Noel from Idebate last night. His fiancé is moving to London and they were looking for somewhere to live. They'd seen a few places and found one which looked alright. But the agent was pressing for a decision as he thought the flat would go soon.I don't envy their position. I like to take my time over spending a quarter of a million pounds and choosing the place I'll call home. There are certain decisions I'll make quickly (chicken or fish?). Most, however, I like a good amount of pondering time for.
I'm lucky in that I've got a dog and Hampstead Heath and an hour walking there is great for coming to conclusions. I can run through the pros and cons, weigh up the relative importance of each point and still have time for the gut feeling to emerge.
But sometimes you don't have the luxury of consideration, sometimes you have to decide and live with the consequences. I guess all you can do then is remember you made the decision with the information you had at the time. And that hindsight is a bitch.
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Cash those holiday cheques at the bank…
There is a distinctly party feeling in the office today, which is great. We're still here, but we know that we won't be again until Tuesday, as Britain is having one of her all-too-rare public holidays. In London the Notting Hill Carnival will be taking place. This made me think about how it often takes unusual circumstances to get British people to relax a bit, and drop their guard and the old stiff upper lip. We're not very good at randomly talking to and sharing experiences with strangers - but it seems that we want to given the excuse!I was on a packed train to York the other weekend. (All the news about trains being 150% over capacity is completely believable I promise). There were at least 20 of us in the bit between the carriages, and, whilst we all stood in polite silence at least to Peterborough, the comical nature of the situation overcame us all by this point and we eventually began chatting. By York I was engaged in a heated debate with three complete strangers from all walks of life about middle eastern politics. Moments like this make me realise my job will never be fruitless - people always want to debate things, we just need to be given the opportunity to do so. If a few barriers are broken down we will all be discussing away and maybe a few more of the world's problems might be solved. Debatewise aims to break down these barriers by providing an annonymous, open, non-judgemental place in which complete strangers can debate. A bit like the sacred place between carriages F and G on the 7.03 to Edinburgh...
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Ch ch ch changes
That the internet is revolutionary we know; just how revolutionary will only become clear in time. The changes will touch just about every business and go far beyond the ways in which companies produce, market and distribute their products. They'll affect at root level the very relationship a company has with its customers.This was made clear in a blog post which argued that Google's differentiator is its attitude to search. Google wants you to find what you're looking for as quickly as possible, which of course means giving you links elsewhere. MSN, Yahoo and the rest just aren't as focussed; if they were, their home page would have far fewer distractions designed to keep you right there.
MSN and Yahoo epitomise the old way of doing business, Google the new. Google understands what we want and gives us that. It knows this is how you build loyalty, get repeat business and ultimately make money. The old school approach uses marketing to persuade us to want their products. The new school builds its products around what we want and uses marketing to help us find them.
The other key change is that we now expect a great many things without paying for them. The number of subscription web sites is vastly outnumbered by those offering the same or better content for free. The exception is porn, though the motivating factors which cause their customers to get their credit cards our are entirely different to most other industries.
The shift in the balance of power to the consumers and the desire of consumers to get a great many things for free presents great challenges to traditional businesses. They need to unlearn some of the fundamental principles which have made them so successful. And you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.
The challenge for new businesses is to convince others their business model will work. This has to be hard by definition. For if it were obvious it wouldn't truly be different.
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I’ll second that…
Further to Dave's last post I've also been thinking aout the idea that debating is not just informative for the audience, but also a useful persuasive skill.If you're argumentative and passionate like me, you will often find yourself in heated debates with family, friends and people you live with which are often very constructive. For example, in my household recent debates have resulted in the toilet seat being put down more regularly, the addition of a fruitbowl to the kitchen, and the interesting decision to frequent (and then rapidly leave) a local Wetherspoons on Saturday night. If I had just whinged about the above issues, or given an excessively long rant, I probably would have been ignored, or even got on my housemates nerves. But through hearing their side of the argument ('Why should I?') and countering it ('erm it's polite...and err small children wont notice the seat is up and fall down the loo... health and safety!') I eventually persuaded them they were wrong. Therefore as Dave discovered in his meeting, and I discovered through my indignation at the lack of bathroom etiquette, debating is a useful way of attempting to reslove issues in your favour. I now enjoy sharing a bathroom, eat more fruit, and Wetherspoons (breifly) enjoyed my patronage.
There is also a point to these slightly mundane musings on my arguments with my flatmates - if you want to persuade someone, engage them and counter thier arguments. We're planning and event soon (more details to follow) and we want large pressure groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty etc. to get on board. We'll let them have an arena in which to engage with a devil's advocate debater provided by us. This way they can counter any opposition they may face publicly, and persuade people theirs is the right argument. Two opposing voices can be more persuasive than one...
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Aha!
In my attempts to persuade people to support us I usually mention the value of debating and the wonders it brings to individuals and society. Until recently I've meant these benefits to be those of an informed society. However, I've just started to realise how useful debating skills are.Insight occurred during a discussion with a client about their bill (I have a small web design business which funds Debatewise). This was one of those nightmare jobs where just about everything that could go wrong did. We accept some of the responsibility but feel they were most at fault. Unsurprisingly, they don't agree.
This isn't the first serious disagreement I've had with a client. What's new is viewing it through the lens of Debatewise, seeing it as a debate and realising the value of being able to put our point across, which in this case is quite literal: the better we present our arguments the more of our bill they pay.
It strikes me that perhaps I shouldn't be admitting this. After all, I run a debating web site, surely I should know how valuable debating is? Truth is I come from a slightly different angle. I have an instinctive understanding of the value of debate but from the perspective of the audience. I can be an argumentative sod, but always thought debating was something only students and politicians did.
Clearly I'm wrong. If you want to convince everyone Arsenal are the greatest football team the world has ever seen (and believe me I do) you'll need debating skills. If you want to convince other people they're wrong (and let's face it, who doesn't want to do that occasionally), you'll need debating skills. In fact, if you want to convince anyone of anything you'll need debating skills
This is one of those things which seem so blindingly obvious now I can't see how I missed it before.
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