So I was chatting with
Anyway, her comment to me was, "Somebody really ought to teach a class about that." And after pausing to think about it, I found that it's an interesting idea.
I mean, heaven knows SCAdians like to argue -- we do it all the time, both online and in person. Yet I can't think of ever coming across a single class in *practical* rhetoric: how to argue in ways that actually get things done. I suspect it would be useful.
Of course, it's an enormous topic -- one class couldn't do more than scratch the surface. (Indeed, it's a substantial subset of the topic of my on-again off-again Art of Conversation blog.) But even scratching the surface might well be helpful, if it inspired a few more people with the idea that debate is about more than just winning and losing: that it's about working together to find the best answers.
This is nothing but an ill-formed idea at this point. But I welcome thoughts on it: it sounds like it might be fun and useful to some folks...