The Newly Departed thread: announcements (departures)

[Angrboda]

The debate area remains open for anyone who wishes to have a focused discussion without unwelcome distractions. I suggest people use it.

I was going to make a snarky comment, but I'll try to make a serious one instead. Mystic has challenged me to a debate on irreducible complexity. My response was basically, no; just, no. And one of the recent civil discussion threads had been objected to on account of the loaded way in which the premise of discussion was phrased/stated. So the debate area has in some sense been seen as a trap rather than an opportunity, and a way to force the terms of debate when doing so is not only undesirable but actively resented. Additionally, I also have to think there's something of a concept barrier, that a debate area recalls typical staged debates between theists and seculars, and how pointless those can be. Who exactly is the audience and where's the rapt audience gonna sit so they can applaud at the good points? The debate section, as much as anything, often comes up as a dare. I.e., you might have me by the balls out here, but let me get you in there and just see how the tables will turn. So there are negatives, to the image and the appeal of the debate section which don't appear to have any obvious remedy and may have more to do with the way it has been used than the way it can be used. Maybe Neo and the theist's use of it recently is an example that models behavior which can be followed by others. Unfortunately, many viewed that discussion, it's creation, and its purpose with a side eye, too.