Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Rulz of Internet Debate

Rule 1: The 'We are the World' Rule
Personal anecdote is a perfectly fine and effective counter to depth of knowledge on any topic. The anecdote needn't be true since such things are almost impossible to verify.

Rule 2: The "Help, help, I'm being oppressed!" Rule
If what you wrote on a specific topic in a specific context is being effectively torn apart, extrapolate to any and all topics and contexts and claim you are being silenced for personal reasons. Assume your debater is a branch of the government and claim your 1st Amendment rights are being violated.

Rule 3: Law of Conservation
On any topic, only two lines of argument are needed. They need not be consistent with each other. When the first is shot down, switch to the second. When the second is shot down, go back to the first. Rinse, repeat, ad nauseum.

Rule 4: A therefor B, aka "My New Logic Style is Unstoppable"
Assert that your argument is rational and/or logical. If this is shown not to be the case by traditional measures, assert it again. If others are still not convinced use a non sequitur example that is logical and claim equivalence.

Rule 5: Bad Words are Very Very Bad
When you're reasonably advocating death camps for some minority you reasonably do not like, for Heaven's sake don't stoop to the level of using a word like "fuck"

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