posted 28th January 2024
See that woman sitting in the corner of the cafe in front of her laptop? She killed three people while she was drinking her flat white.
Not because she's operating drone strikes in a far away land. (The security services generally prefer not to run top secret operations from the local branch of Pret A Manger.) She's ended those lives because she's a writer, halfway through her latest thriller. Novelists, playwrights and screenwriters can all play God by creating their own worlds. But debaters, too, can create worlds. Here's how.
Say the motion is This house would make it compulsory for all 18 year olds to do a year of community service. The proposition paints a picture of what the world will be like when the motion is passed.
'Think of your local park. What would make it better? Imagine if a group of young people spent a month weeding, picking up litter, redecorating the cafe, repainting the lines on the football pitch, looking after toddlers while the toddlers' parents have a well earned break. Those young people have had the experience of useful, fulfilling work for their community. They have got to know people from different backgrounds; they have acquired new skills; they have learnt to work in a team; they have a strong sense of their social identity. So it is all round the country. Britain is now a more unified place, the workforce is more skilled and more motivated, and public spaces are brighter, cleaner and better maintained.'
The opposition builds a very different world.
'Imagine going to your local park, and seeing a resentful bunch of young people weeding and picking up litter, as if they are on a chain gang. They don't want to be there; they want to be out studying or working. The park keepers don't want them to be there; they do the job badly, and take work from other people who need it more. And you don't want them to be there, because most of them are doing made up jobs funded by your taxes. That's what it will look like all round the country. Public places that could have been cared for by people who care about them will instead be neglectfully managed by people who could be doing something more useful.'
In both cases, the speaker is using some of the skills of the creative writer by building a world with accumulated detail. But they are also advancing their arguments. The proposition speaker is arguing for the benefits of compulsory community service: teaching young people skills, providing a shared experience, breaking down social barriers, improving public spaces. The opposition speaker is arguing for the harms of compulsory community service: resentment amongst those doing it, poor quality of work, cost, taking jobs from people who need them.
Presenting arguments via the depiction of a world can make them more vivid and more powerful. However, do remember that the task of a debater is different from that of a novelist, playwright or screenwriter. It is not enough just to tell a good story. You must also elaborate your arguments carefully, systematically and logically. And you don't normally get to kill people.
