Debating 101

erm.. will update when i get the motiv.. materials to write

a mistake/flaw in the government's model doesn't translate into an advantage of the opposition party. it simply decreases their speaks, that's all. a flaw can only be counted as opposition's winning if they successfully pinpointed and detected the flaw.
now, ask me why.
if i am the government and i say that we should invade, let's say, cambodia, because they have lots of nukes and is in possession of a mass destruction device, and the opposition says nothing about my obviously ridiculously false statement (which implies that they actually buy my statement), who's the stupid one over here?


--------------------------------------

explaining peer pressure
peer pressure should be a very common term in delivering arguments. in debates concerning about legislation vs criminalization concerning sensitive issues (abortion, drugs, child labour, tiger parenting, gambling, prostitution, etc), the ones supporting the banning tend to use peer pressure as their argument.
but how to explain?
peer pressure is just as simple as me being in a classroom where everybody else has tattoos and smokes and worships justin bieber and then i'm coerced into joining the fray, isn't it?
well, if you wanna score 70 in your speaks, then by all means go ahead and say it. oh, but please, if you have other arguments/points, deliver them first. analysis of peer pressure is a VERY WEAK one because the tendency of everybody when listening to the term "peer pressure" is "i already know what you gonna say, bub. just say something else."

well, that is, if what you're saying is soo common and doesn't surprise the audience whatsoever. anyway, here's how i explain peer pressure.

1. survivability instincts of not only humans, but ALL animals require us to adapt to our surroundings. remember darwin vs lamarck? (i dunno about your society, but in my community, the moment i say that term, darwin vs lamarck, everybody knows what i'm talking about. err... google it. darwin+lamarck+giraffe. images)
Biston betularia f. typica, the white-bodied peppered moth. WHITE. anyway, they used to be white prior to the industrial evolution. when factories bloomed, air pollution happened and the white ones become more visible to their predators. as more and more moths adapted and changed their bodies into black, they "blend" with the air pollution, making it more difficult (for the birds) to hunt. and leaving the (still) white ones vulnerable.

BUT, OI, THAT'S ADAPTING TO THE SITUATION. NOT TO THE PEERS.
well, interestingly enough, adaptation also occurs in more developed species as well as in a well developed environment. ask the marketing people (or pubdiv, or brokers). sri mulyani once said that everybody who is involved in economy must be able to detect the trend and follow the trend. USD and EUR graph is still at 5, but is walking upwards? time to buy, man. you don't buy them now, you'll lose yourself since you didn't "adapt" to the trend. oh nose, now they are at 44, what to do now?
OR. friendster and myspace. please do shove a corn up my ass if any of you are still mingling over there. what happened while 10 years ago we were still using them? a massive exodus from friendster to facebook. as more and more people move, we are subconsciously convinced to move along as well.

subconscious mind? yes. picture a scenario where you stopped at a traffic light. the red countdown timer (im not sure if this is the correct term) is still at its 90s, and then you start dawdling and daydreaming. just when you are thinking of what to have for dinner, suddenly cars in front of you and left and right to you started moving. you will subconsciously release the clutch and press the accelerate. LIGHT IS STILL RED, MAN. but you were daydreaming. so the subconscious took the better of you. because you don't want to be the only one left behind.

tell you what- in the lost world: jurassic park, the member of the rescue team who went to pee got left by his group, got lost, and got ultimately digested by compsognathi