Debate | Adora Myers

The country would be better served if we allow both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you to do that.
Chris Wallace, Moderator 2020 Presidential Debate, 9/29/2020

The problem with the first presidential debate can be solved with technology. This is a rare moment when a distinctly human communication problem can be effectively solved through technological solutions.

The problem: Constant interruptions of both the moderator and the opponent during a live broadcast debate.

The solution:

Step 1: Place candidates in separate rooms or in clear glass, soundproof boxes on the same physical stage. Separate rooms requires reliable video and audio and clear boxes require reliable audio, thereby allowing the participants to hear both questions and responses.

Step 2: Make it clear at the outset that microphones will be muted when questions are asked and when the opponent has the floor.

Step 3: When it is their turn to speak open the microphone. When they are out of time mute them.

Step 4: If a live mic is in the room recording everything said but not broadcast during the debate, then those recordings may be released and commented on the following day. It must not be made available during the debate itself.

I noticed that Raven and Carole both challenged and pushed Pete to cite where he got his information from when he made a claim about something or related a piece of news, whether political, cultural, or health related. I saw another side to the boy I had been dating. He had a keen, sharp mind and could easily hold his own when his mother threw a question at him that contradicted some statement he’d made, forcing him to think about the subject from another angle. It was like a verbal sort of Ping Pong. Swifter and faster, arguments flew back and forth between them, sometimes the strain of the conversation snapping into laughter. I could not participate, but I watched and listened, soaking up their intellectualism like a thirsty plant. Here was a way of thinking and speaking that I had not been exposed to, but which was something I knew I wanted in my life. It seemed that the three of them had arrived at their liberal views of the world through educating themselves, analyzing ideas, investigating, and researching further what they had learned.

–Synanon Kid Grows Up by C.A. Wittman

C.A. Wittman Facebook and Twitter

Adora Myers

Tag Archives: Debate

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