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Death By Spin

When I was doing graduate work at the University of Dallas during the last century, I met a fellow student that I’ve always remembered him as the “cheerful intellectual,” because he wrestled with both facts and truth so optimistically.  He had been a high school math teacher and debate team coach in his prior life, but debate was his true love. He felt about debate the same way some people feel about art or fine wine.  Thankfully, he also taught me some of the rules of debate, such as:

1.  Know everything about the subject matter.
2.  Never interrupt, as windbags will be assessed a penalty by the judge, not you.
3.  Facts can only be stated twice – once during the argument and once in the closing.
4.  Emotions are permitted only in the conclusion.

I talked with him last week and could not resist asking what he thought about the presidential debates, and, as expected, he responded with “what debates?”  He explained that there hasn’t been a real, presidential debate since Bush I and Clinton in 1992.  Since then, he said, debates have been killed by spin.  During a real debate, arguments can be mistaken for spin, but there is a difference.

Political spin is more often talking points tinged with emotion and posing as half-truths and repeated endlessly.  If you cannot defend a statement, don’t debate it . . . just keep repeating it.

Today, the “cheerful intellectual” has more interest in fine wine than debate, and that’s sad!