[lbo-talk] Chomsky: Dershowitz is a remarkable liar and slanderer, an extreme opponent of elementary civil rights

Andy F andy274 at gmail.com
Fri Sep 22 10:13:40 PDT 2006


On 9/22/06, Tayssir John Gabbour <tjg at pentaside.org> wrote:


> "Personally, I regard debates as one of the most irrational institutions
> that humans have devised. In the sciences, for example, you don't have
> "debates": rather, discussions, in which people try to come to some
> common understanding. At least, that's the ideal, often approaches,
> whereas debates, in their very nature, demand irrationality (you're not
> allowed to say, "interesting point, maybe you're right, let's explore
> it"). And formats such as the one you saw are designed to undercut the
> possibility of reasoned discussion.

What remember of the whole "debate team" format was that you were supposed to take a position and defend it by whatever (verbal) means necessary, regardless of what you thought of its merits. Do I have this wrong? It seemed profoundly cynical.

-- Andy



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list