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fandomhigh2007-09-20 09:37 pm
certaintrouble.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2007-09-20 09:37 pm
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Debating, Friday September 21
Chuck strolled into class a good five minutes late. This tardiness did not concern him in the least. It was five less minutes he had to spend teaching, right?
He called for the class to quiet down, regardless of their actual noise level or attentiveness. “I want everyone who did extra credit to hand in their generalizations about board-face. Pass them over to him, so that he can get to read them before he hands them in.” He gave the class ample time, then grabbed the generalizations from poor Valentine.
“Today we’re learning the ‘Straw Man’ technique. You set up a misrepresentation of the opponent's position, refute it, and pretend that the opponent's actual position has been refuted. If you do this right, you can set up your “Straw Man” close enough to the opponent’s argument that when you smash it, you smash the real argument as well.”
“Let’s have an example. Say that I’m talking to one of the colleagues at my old school, Flatpoint. As advisers to the principal, there were very important decisions that we had to discuss. Imagine you’re in my shoes, and that the choice you/I make will be implemented and change the school. Losing is not an option.” Chuck added losers suck to his notes on the board. “Say that your colleague wants to remodel the garden in front of the school, when you think it’s just fine, that the statue of the principal is a source of authority and the flowers that are already there are just fine, and there’s nothing in the budget for it so you’d probably get roped into spending a whole Saturday at the school and why the hell would you want to come back for a day of unpaid work, it just a stupid idea, Geoffrey, why do you come up with things like this, it doesn’t make sense, you’re a silly little art teacher and what you know, you in your flouncy little spring shirts, why do you wear them when they’re so damn distracting anyway-”
Chuck stopped. He cleared his throat with something more akin to a squeak. “W-well, the point is that you could say that this- this person’s choice to take out the statue of the principal destroys the sense of authority, and is therefore unpatriotic. After all, if he’s destroying one symbol of authority, what next, a flag?”
“Get it? Break up into pairs and try it out. I’m done teaching. Let’s finish up so I can go call my wife.”
OOC:Not quite ready… It's that great come and get it day! Come and get your schooling!
He called for the class to quiet down, regardless of their actual noise level or attentiveness. “I want everyone who did extra credit to hand in their generalizations about board-face. Pass them over to him, so that he can get to read them before he hands them in.” He gave the class ample time, then grabbed the generalizations from poor Valentine.
“Today we’re learning the ‘Straw Man’ technique. You set up a misrepresentation of the opponent's position, refute it, and pretend that the opponent's actual position has been refuted. If you do this right, you can set up your “Straw Man” close enough to the opponent’s argument that when you smash it, you smash the real argument as well.”
“Let’s have an example. Say that I’m talking to one of the colleagues at my old school, Flatpoint. As advisers to the principal, there were very important decisions that we had to discuss. Imagine you’re in my shoes, and that the choice you/I make will be implemented and change the school. Losing is not an option.” Chuck added losers suck to his notes on the board. “Say that your colleague wants to remodel the garden in front of the school, when you think it’s just fine, that the statue of the principal is a source of authority and the flowers that are already there are just fine, and there’s nothing in the budget for it so you’d probably get roped into spending a whole Saturday at the school and why the hell would you want to come back for a day of unpaid work, it just a stupid idea, Geoffrey, why do you come up with things like this, it doesn’t make sense, you’re a silly little art teacher and what you know, you in your flouncy little spring shirts, why do you wear them when they’re so damn distracting anyway-”
Chuck stopped. He cleared his throat with something more akin to a squeak. “W-well, the point is that you could say that this- this person’s choice to take out the statue of the principal destroys the sense of authority, and is therefore unpatriotic. After all, if he’s destroying one symbol of authority, what next, a flag?”
“Get it? Break up into pairs and try it out. I’m done teaching. Let’s finish up so I can go call my wife.”
OOC:
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"Clearly," she said, "you'll never understand."
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Turtle wasn't sure exactly how, but she was pretty certain that the other person taking a nap meant you won, so she was okay with this.