Connection: The Rhythm of Great Writing and Debate

In class lately, we've been talking about how English, when used to its fullest extent, has a certain rhythm.  It has a certain beat, a melody.  The proper placement of words in ways to make something more powerful, and more persuasive.  This is very similar to what happens in debate.  

The Rhythm of Great Writing and debate are connected in that they both entail persuasion.

Debate tends to follow a highly specialized type of language that is not accessible to the general public.  But this does not mean that it should discount persuasion.  The major difference between writing for the general public and giving arguments to a judge at high speed is that debate judges are persuaded by different things.  People are persuaded and brought in by strong language, good word choice, and tone.  Debaters are persuaded by good evidence, a strong cross-examination, logical arguments, technical framing of speeches, and so on.  This means that style is important in both debate and writing, even if those styles are radically independent.  

How can the lessons about great writing be applied to debating?  How can academite debaters take what they've learned about word choice, sentence structure, and tone, and then apply those concepts to a debate rebuttal?  

Maybe, when doing analysis on why stimulating the economy through jobs is okay, even when that stimulation will make Chinese investors angry, a debater could more carefully pick his words.  When describing the jobs that are created, he or she could use cheerier, happier, and brighter words than when describing the chinese investors.  They could drag judges down into the drudgery of the other team.

Best of Week - is Assef a sociopath?

The most important thing we discussed this week was whether or not Assef is a sociopath.  This is because it will help us determine how to analyze characters in the future.  Granted, we will probably not encounter too many more situations exactly like this one, but it is the practice doing this sort of thing that will be useful in the long run.  Plus, understanding characters may be the most important skill we learn in english class because we will use it every second of every minute of every hour of every day for the rest of our lives.  We will use it not only reading books, but also in real life when we encounter other people and have conversions with them.  It will also help us in our writing when we are trying to understand our own characters.

I do not believe Assef is not a sociopath.  While his moral compass is certainly broken, he is capable of seeing emotion in others.  Someone said the definition of a sociopath is someone who does not know what he is doing to others, is incapable of understanding it.  Assef knows what he is doing to others, and he knows all the moral rules.  He proves that at the party when he is able to make small talk and impress parents.  He just doesn't care.  That is universally understood, I believe.  So, while Assef is a terrible person, he is not a sociopath.  We need to find a new word to describe the likes of him.  Does evil work for you guys?

But why is Assef this way?  What set of experiences has led him to this awful personality?  There are two points I will make.  

First, a persons personality is determined strictly by their experiences.  All babies are born good, and it is what has happened to them that determines what sort of person they become.  They don't know any better than what they are taught by their friends, their teachers, and most of all, their parents.  While their nature certainly plays into it a little bit, I do no believe that the random matching of genes is enough to create something so horrible.  

Second, Assef had horrible parents.  At the party, Amir commented that his parents look practically scared of their son, of what they had created.  They had somehow not given him the ability to feel guilt for what he has done, to feel sorry for other people.  The alternative is that he had great parents who were just awful people, but that doesn't explain how they behaved at the party.  they must have simply not cared about who he was or what he became.  After all, they let him have the brass knuckles he used to take off someone's ear, they obviously can't care too much. 

Carry it forward: The Kite Runner

Today, we are reading an excellent fictional memoir, The Kite Runner by Kaled Hosseini.  It has become apparent to me that the main character, Amir, is one who is bound fear.  He can not do what he knows is right because he is to much afraid of what will happen to him.  Amir watched his best friend get raped in a back alley of afghanistan, and could not help him because he was scared.  Plus, his best friend, Hassan, got raped because he could not let Amir down.  

Amir is so bound by this fear that he aspires to cowardice.  He tries dozens of times to avoid conflict, even when it is clear that being a hero is the right course of action.  It's not a lack of people to look up to.  Baba is portrayed as an excellent role model who clearly thrives in the element he's in.  He stands up for what is right, even when he's standing alone.  He helps his friends get by, even when they can't help him back.  Somewhere along the way, that was lost on Amir.  

From now on, I will try to emulate the behavior of Baba.  Standing around and thinking slowly, methodically, calculatingly, is not the right way to go.  It leads to people being hurt.  The instance we see in The Kite Runner is a bit extreme, but that is the essence of fiction.  Fiction (or fictional memoirs, in this case) are designed to help writers bring out the real emotions behind their ideas.  It would be boring for Mr. Hosseini to say "I was a coward, and it hurt someone."  A much more interesting story is created by the skilled prowess of a writer making up a story that embodies all of the main human emotions.

Instead, I will try to speak up for what is I think is right, even if it's a very small instance.  If it's my friend degrading themselves, I will try to make them think more positively.  This has also made me want to re-strengthen my efforts on the "your awesome" campaign.  Instead of saying "epic fail" when someone does something stupid, I will try, and am trying, to start saying "you're awesome" when they do something good.  

Letting fear drive us is bad.  Some fear is good because it keeps us from touching the boiling pot of water, from hurting ourselves, from failing a class.  However, all-encompassing fear is bad because it destroys the intrinsic value to life.  When fear reaches the point that you are no longer able to act, it is time to reject that fear and do something that may seem irrational.  All-encompassing fear hurts our relationships, our health, and our state of mind.