1st October 2004, 12:42 PM
It's not a "fact" as you put it, because in scientific debates and presentations, it's all about the logic. Someone can sound and look GREAT on stage but people with their wits about them watching or asking them questions during their presentation will tear into the logic over all else. In a good scientific debate, "ums" are ignored, and so are nice sounding analogies (they are for explaining purposes only, an analogy is never proof of something), and if the person presenting their theory is full of it, and it's all just the pomp, it will be exposed as such. If the person is correct, even if they look aweful and don't seem to carry themselves with confidence, if the logic is sound and the facts are straight, then they walk away with a victory.
A political debate just isn't done with logic in mind, and that IS a bad thing. I can accept that they want to win, but I think there are certain boundries you just can't cross if you want to hold onto your dignity, and I believe making logic a secondary priority, with pomp the top, is one of them. Honestly, "it works" is the argument of someone with no scruples at all. Now gimme back that gold needle!
A political debate just isn't done with logic in mind, and that IS a bad thing. I can accept that they want to win, but I think there are certain boundries you just can't cross if you want to hold onto your dignity, and I believe making logic a secondary priority, with pomp the top, is one of them. Honestly, "it works" is the argument of someone with no scruples at all. Now gimme back that gold needle!
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)