Debate is not porn

[lorimt]

No matter what someone else may have said, debate is not porn. They may have a few things in common, but just about any two things have at least a few things in common. There is one big difference however. Almost nobody will watch a debate for entertainment. (I happen to be an oddity, in that I watch debates sort of for fun, and wouldn't watch porn, but we all agree I'm not exactly typical.)

Comments

[ziqueenmab.livejournal.com]

Except for, like, you and...being right about stuff.

Long live teh pr0n.

[avani.livejournal.com]

So, if I find both debate and porn highly entertaining am I just wierd? ( though, it may be knee-jerk to all that judging I've done.. damn are bad debaters funny ).

Also, I'm a big fan of having both in the lounge. Well.. given the company of all of the lounge.. but with the right subset of people either ( both! ) sound like all kinds of fun.

[squirrelloid.livejournal.com]

Bad debaters are really entertaining. =) And good debaters can be a lot of fun to watch to (not the pissy little high school debaters that think they are the shit, but good college level debate is incredible to watch). Of course, i prefer watching parliamentary for good debates, because then they get to heckle each other... excellent.

[isomorphisms.livejournal.com]

What about pornographic debate? HMMMMM?

(context, please?)

[squirrelloid.livejournal.com]

Def: Porn - n. Sexually oriented material with the intent to cause arousal [in observers].

I fail to see how debate could be pornographic. It could be about porn. It could involve nude participants, though how that debating was intended to cause arousal is beyond me. There's nothing arousing about debate (unless you get off on power trips, but its not porn if the participants are aroused... the audience must be aroused). Anything done during a debate which happened to be arousing would be unlikely to be topical or related to the debate itself. Ie, some women debaters, especially in high school, have been known to wear inappropriately short skirts and revealing blouses/other tops in order to influence judge opinion. While this mode of dress may be arousing, it has nothing to do with the debate itself.

Well, i guess there is a borderline case: if there were a debate about how to arouse someone, and demonstrations are allowed, it may be considered porn. But while the demonstrations intent was to arouse the target of said demonstration, i am not sure its intent is to arouse the audience (though it might do that), but to function as proof of concept. Further, i think the demonstration would only be considered as evidence, and therefore only part of the debate insofar as it was referenced by the participants. ie, the demonstration would not itself constitute debate.

And i think Lori is going to be sad that this discussion happened in her LJ.

[lorimt]

There really isn't much context. My roomate claimed debate = porn. I disagreed. This is clearly LJ worthy, of course.

[dclayh.livejournal.com]

I don't know...I think one could generalize "porn" analagously to "wank"--something which has no purpose other than to gratify those who view/read/whatever it. Of course, a whole bunch of things would then become porn...

[viritrilbia.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I'm coming to this a little late. But I'd like to point out that according to Merriam-Webster, "pornography" has a further meaning: "the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction," e.g. "the pornography of violence." I can see a case being made that some debates could fall into this category.

[galapogos11.livejournal.com]

Why did your roommate suggest that debate= porn??