anyone in debate club in high school or college ?

[steve2470]

DU seems ideal for someone who has had "formal" debate training. I was in a few debates, but I lost interest pretty fast.

[pinboy3niner]

1. This is the Lounge

We have Master Debaters here!

[steve2470]

2. haha

maybe even Doctoral Debaters

[pinboy3niner]

3. We kinda take pride in being more sophomoric. :)

[steve2470]

4. don't get fresh.... man nt

[pinboy3niner]

7. Mmmmm! Fresh man...

[steve2470]

8. brainzzzzzzzz

[malthaussen]

44. I Master Debated so much, I went blind n/t

[pinboy3niner]

45. With you, that was inevitable

[KeepItReal]

5. I debated "Bobby" Jindal in high school

Hi-Y at the Louisiana state capitol

Didn't like him then... Proven right over time.

[steve2470]

6. really ? do tell....go on please nt

[KeepItReal]

53. We attended rival public High Schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Hi-Y program had a Youth Legislature confab where we got to go to the State Capitol and submit and debate bills.

It was a fun an informative event, but since there were adolescents involved, the debates did become partisan along High School lines at times.

Looking at how Republicans in power refuse to even debate the merits of Democratic initiatives, I feel like their party has devolved into a bunch of high schoolers hating legislation *just* because the other side submitted it.

Jindal just wasn't one of those guys I could've been cool with. Sorry to say my feelings have been affirmed. He remains a know-it-all who rubs one the wrong way.

[pinboy3niner]

9. You should have stuck with it. What matters most in life is...

...de bait.

[steve2470]

10. I think we're going to need a bigger boat and MOAR BAIT......

[pinboy3niner]

11. You first, chum

[steve2470]

12. that sounds fishy.... nt

[pinboy3niner]

13. You're just saying that because you got schooled. nt

[steve2470]

14. i'll just swim past that rejoinder :p nt

[pinboy3niner]

15. I've herd that tuna before. nt

[steve2470]

16. haul that mackerel away from me before I eat it

yes I looked it up lol

[pinboy3niner]

17. Mahi, mahi. A bit touchy, are we?

[steve2470]

18. keep your sharky comments away from me :p nt

[pinboy3niner]

19. I apologize. I am so sorry and filled with remoras. nt

[steve2470]

20. oh don't be such a grunt :p nt

[pinboy3niner]

21. The Queen of Bottlenose

(The Infantry, or "grunts," is known as the "Queen of battle.&quot

[steve2470]

22. ahhh ! You're such a kingfish ! :) nt

[pinboy3niner]

23. I do not wear the prawn lightly

But in private I try to lighten up a bit just for the halibut.

[steve2470]

24. you are GOOD pinboy lmao....hmm.....let's not tell any Pollock jokes please

Juries: yes there is a fish called Pollock and no I'm not being horrible, honest.

[pinboy3niner]

25. After all the ethnic fish jokes NOW it's verboten?

At least I already won the fish million dollar national lottery. A dollar a year for a million years.

[steve2470]

26. hey now you can eat oldwife every day for the rest of your life....

[pinboy3niner]

38. Not touching that one with a ten-foot tongue...um I mean pole

[steve2470]

39. (it's a fish lol ) use your tongue for tonguefish :) nt

[pinboy3niner]

40. Now I think you're just making fin of me.

I think one of my best lines was 'A Finny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'.

[steve2470]

41. Wahoo ! I smelt something. Hm... nt

[pinboy3niner]

42. Something rotten in Denmark?

Where have I heard that before...?

[steve2470]

51. oh crappie ! The emperor has no clothes and has a flathead ! nt

[malthaussen]

48. Did you two get a permit for this subthread?

You're going to cachalot of growlers if you keep barbing each other this way.

-- Mal

[pinboy3niner]

27. To be serious, no, I was not in debate club

It seemed to be more about winning, not about being right.

I was shocked by one profile of a DU member that stated:

More likely than not you are here because I have bested you in some thread debate, and a sense of pitiful frustration at your own shockingly limited intellect in comparison to mine has angered you greatly. You are here hoping to find some "personal" info to attack me with, as is the wont of those on the losing end of internet debates - ridiculing my occupation, my hometown, my marital status, etc. Sucks to be you, huh?

I never learned debate skills and I'm not good at it. And I really feel sorry for the member who posted that profile. That is really sad.

[steve2470]

28. you're right about the winning

You have to have a bit of an aggressive streak to be a great debater. No thanks.

[pinboy3niner]

29. My friends on the Knowledge Bowl team in HS wanted me to join them

I was pretty good, but I knew I was not THAT good. These were kids who were National Merit Scholars, with full rides to Harvard, Yale, M.I.T. And they opted for Knowledge Bowl. None of them signed up for Debate Team.

[steve2470]

30. ah cool I don't think we had Knowledge Bowl in FL

I did the Toastmasters thing for kids when I was 14. They seemed to like my political speeches. In high school I did one or two debates. I just didn't care for it.

[pinboy3niner]

33. I never did that but I think it's good experience for public speaking

My little brother did Toastmasters after he got back from Vietnam and it helped him in his career when he had to speak to groups of people.

I speak in schools now and then and as much experience as I've had doing it, it's alway scary going back in.

[steve2470]

34. do you talk about veterans' stuff ? nt

[pinboy3niner]

35. I speak in schools about the VN War from one veteran's perspective

Usually there also are other vets who share their perspectives. I tend to be the pacifist of the bunch and am quick to counter hawkish BS. Being Infantry, Purple Heart, does actually give me some cred with students against an AF or Navy vet spouting RW nonsense.

I give a nonpolitical spiel, and only get political if someone else goes there.

I also give briefings in schools about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Usually to classes that will be visiting when our local veterans group displays our half-scale replica of the Wall. Our next display will be for one week in Simi Valley CA over Memorial day.

[steve2470]

36. That's great you do that...

and also great that you counter the RW nonsense. The kids need to hear the truth. Very much so.

[pinboy3niner]

37. One thing I get a kick out of...

Every year, I speak to a JC class taught by a Liberal prof.

He's too professional to communicate his views to his students. But when I speak to his class he always raises a question in the Q&A that's designed to get me to tell why I drove from CA to Battleground Ohio in ' 04 to work for Kerry.

That devious bastard!

[steve2470]

32. yes that profile is sad nt

[Rocinante]

31. yes

[hermetic]

43. Steve, you and Pinboy

are sooo funny. Love the puns. Nice to start the day with a good laugh.

To the question: Yes, in high school. It was required. I hated it. That may have been due, in large part, to my terror of public speaking. It used to be really awful. Thanks to college drama courses and some time spent as a crew leader for MoveOn back in the day we were trying to keep GeeDub out of office, I got over it.

Now, after all I've been through, I ain't afraid of nuthin'. Except bears....

[steve2470]

52. you're braver than me lol

Bears and a few other things I'd have to add to that list

[malthaussen]

46. Yep, I was in the Debate Club in High School...

... there was this girl, see...

Seriously, formal debate skills are pretty useless at DU. The kinds of point-scoring tactics and rhetorical strategies employed here would not be tolerated in a structured debate.

-- Mal

[hermetic]

47. ^^Tru dat^^

[steve2470]

50. yes you're correct nt

[Chan790]

49. I was a member of an Collegiate national champion parliamentary debate team.

I never did forensic debate in HS or college though, which is what most people think of when they say "debate".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_debate

I was also captain of my middle school junior mock-trial team.

I would say that the experience is less valuable than you'd expect for DUing.

[Callmecrazy]

54. I tried the debate club but had to quit...

Everybody always wanted to argue about something or other.