IT’S NOT UP FOR DEBATE

by AMELIA GOLDWaSSER opinions staff

Debates have become an essential part of fan bases and daily life. The question of Star Wars or Star Trek, Marvel or DC, all the way down to chocolate or vanilla have become commonplace online. While these types of conversations can be fun, what happens when the debates you have can affect human life?

The goal when debating is to change the view of the opposition, therefore winning the argument. But in debates or arguments, it can quickly get hostile. In a study performed at the Canadian Psychological Association, participants were given a topic and were asked to give their opinion, they were then shown a debate on the issue and then were asked to rate their opinion of each side. They found that the side with a person who was insulting their opponent were rated lower while the side with the person who was insulted’s rating had not changed. A very simple takeaway from the study is that debates should be more civil and fair, but is it fair when one of the sides views can lead to death? Should we be made to have calm conversations with those who advocate for policies that can get people killed?

Ben Shapiro is a notable conservative political commentator, whose fame erupted due to compilation of him debating people about political issues, often being found in the recommended section on Youtube. Shapiro is someone who is anti gun regulation. “We must balance the need and right to firearms with public policy concerns, including the risk that a machine gun will be used in public,” Shapiro said in an article published to the Jewish Journal after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest in United States history. Is it fair to argue over issues that can get people killed, wasting time with people whose opinions won’t change while more people die?

Since Barack Obama’s election in 2008, there has been a notable increase in partisan politics, meaning that it has become rare for republicans to vote positively on democratic bills, and vice versa. This trend only increased when Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Currently, the senate is nearly split down the middle in terms of political party, with democrats having a 51% majority. With party lines so entrenched, it’s become hard for progress to be made. Debates have only made the divides larger, with people digging their feet in the sand trying to keep to their views. Effective and quick change is becoming a thing of the past.