22 Things I Learned in Debate Club

Reflections on a stint in high-school at Asheville, North Carolina

1. People in debate clubs are special kind of nerds
2. The best research can be interpreted different ways, if it can only be interpreted one way that's unnatural, there's a weakness that can be found in the research itself. Look for it.
3. To really understand your own position, you need to understand its complete opposite on its own terms.
4. When you can argue either side effectively, you tend to lose opinion on matters and feel like there's always something beyond your grasp.
5. Some people just like to argue and if you are, or have been, in in a debate club, you are probably one of those people. But you will probably argue with this assertion
6. When doing research, the pros are as important as the cons and vice-versa.
7. Sometimes your words will defeat your own arguments. Words are not to be trusted, so anticipate how they will rat you out and reward defectors in your opponents' rhetoric.
8. A well articulated argument is a fascinating thing, whether you agree with it or not, take a moment to appreciate the artistry before even starting to formulate a rebuttal
9. Robert's Rules of Order make for really dry RPGs
10. The ground can shape perception of the figure without making its influence known. Every statement has an implicit context. In every context are implicit assumptions.
11. Learning to divest identity from opinions, and from points of view, creates versatility. But it can also inflate the ego. Until the ego just becomes another point of view. But it's tempting not to push to that final conclusion. Or to renig at times after you have
12. Judges aren't logical. There's always "metas" in an argument that outweighs facts, sometimes these metas can be read through micro-expressions.
13. A "fact" always carries a default interpretation, but don't stop there.
14. A good team is a combination of unique strengths created by synergies. These synergies can be recognized in action but not usually articulated
15. You've been debating a topic for too long when all your hear yourself saying is blah blah blah
16. You can't argue yourself out of a position you haven't argued yourself into
17. Sometimes an elegant victory is recognized by everybody except the judges and creates a comradely of unspoken recognition
18. This makes you wonder how many other messages you are missing
19. When you just start debate, your friends not into debate will go through a period of annoyance with you
20. You'll learn to control it, but it will always be commenting in the back of your mind. When you are back into normal social mode, this commentary will probably bear no resemblance to what you are actually saying, but you'll recognize it as two types of perception, both equally valid in their contexts and both streaming through your consciousness
21. That may go on for years after high-school. And you may have flashbacks the rest of your life.
22. Intelligence fluctuates, sometimes even over the course of an hour