In Defense of...Cecil Rhodes?!

How Mitt Romney and Joe Biden Won Their Debates

(or How We Are Making Society Worse)

I do listen to what others say, but I always apply thought to it and never just follow the herd.  This is what happened during the recent American presidential and vice presidential debates.  And I came to the exact opposite conclusions as were generally announced in the media.

Now, the way I determine if someone won a debate is whether I feel they did a good job getting across their message in a good way.  I may not agree with someone's message at all, but if I think that person got it across better, I'll give that person the win.  Such was the case when I saw Thunderf00t (a YouTube atheist) debating certain creationists.  In most instances, I felt that the creationists won...not because they were right, but because Thunderf00t's showing made me feel embarrassed for him.  He just has trouble debating.

Now, I watched the debates before I heard any of the talking heads on TV, and this is what I thought:

Barack Obama won the first debate against Mitt Romney.  Although he didn't answer some of the blatant lies levied against him, he appeared presidential and answered the questions in an easily understandable and professional way.  Mitt Romney, on the other hand, was aggressive and childish, both towards his opponent and towards the moderator.  I am not saying that a debater must not be aggressive - Christopher Hitchens is the perfect example of someone who could be aggressive in style.  The way Romney was aggressive, though, just made him seem pathetic.

Paul Ryan beat Joe Biden.  After the media said that Mitt Romney won, I was sort of shocked.  Mitt was so rude and appeared to be the bully.  It was then that I realized that viewers like bullying more than they like substance.  This is also the reason why there are far more "reality" shows on TV than there are science shows...the mob finds aggression more entertaining than facts.  Also, perhaps Fox News or some other conservative source was merely the first to announce a victory, and everyone followed them (as in the 2000 elections with them declaring Bush the winner).  People don't like thinking for themselves.  They love to be told what to think.  This goes for news networks, too.  After that, I realized that the Democrats would force Joe Biden to be extremely aggressive - cutting off his opponent during his opponent's time to speak, snickering, and asking the moderator, "You're gonna let me answer, right?" even when it was apparent that his time to answer was coming up.  I knew that the Democrats would give into the mob which feeds off anger and try to turn the next debate into a fight.  And I also knew that it would be Biden to do it, as he is already known for being more outspoken than Obama.

I should have posted my prediction, because I was proven right but only to myself.  It would have been nice for others to realize that I was right, too!  Biden did exactly what I thought he'd do.  He was rude and childish as Romney had been in the first debate.  And most people ate it up.  And this is how we are the ones who are degrading civility and society in general.  We don't laud those who are better, but rather those who are louder.

Now, there's one other thing I should point out.  CNN's poll showed that Ryan had won the debate.  Yet CNN admitted that it polled mostly Republicans.  I ask, how could you possibly respect a news organization which asks a mostly Republican group who won, and they then pick their man, and then this news organization posts this as being a legitimate poll.  This should be a scandal, yet it isn't.  Their poll is being picked up by other "news" organizations and being spread around willy-nilly, with people who just read headlines none the wiser.  I do think that Ryan won, but CNN should be ashamed of themselves for deceiving people.

Well, those are my thoughts about the debates.  I really hope that the next presidential debates have both people calm and answering questions in a civil way, without ingratiating themselves to those who have been cheapening society through their preference for drama over substance.