boytropolis

When we say "there are better ways to win an argument" we usually mean "debate" but everybody knows that shit doesn't work outside the air-conditioned walls of a vandalized classroom. Everybody, except debaters who haven't had exposure to the disconcerting reality of Life Outside Debate. (And as much as I hate being a party pooper...are you ready for this? There is Life Outside Debate and someday you would need to stop debating.) Just wait until you find yourself explaining fourteen levels of argumentation to a boss who doesn't care about what you think. Now don't go on killing yourself once you discover that even after flawlessly rebutting every single point of a worried business contact, he closes a deal with the girl who sucks his dick after buying him lunch. And don't even think of completely losing it when you present that polished CV to an interviewer, shining-shimmering-splendid with debate cap feathers, then she proceeds to ask everything about you except--you guessed it--debate. Where's that feedback form when you need it?

This isn't to say debate is but a prolific waste of time. Hardly. This is only to say truth number two: nobody likes a know-it-all. Nobody likes a smartass. Nobody likes your academic superiority and nobody likes your academic snobbery. In Life Outside Debate, people will smile when you wax nostalgic of good old days spent reaching for speaker score 80 a.k.a. Jesus Christ Came Down From Heaven To Debate. These people will politely smile, listen intently and realize they couldn't give a shit.

And truth number three: don't talk too fast. People don't like that either.

Posted via email from This Boy