Welcome to Normal Debate!
Welcome to Normal Debate!
Normal Debate is a platform where people with a variety of perspectives on important issues can come together to discuss those thoughts in factual, evidence-based ways. It's not another reincarnation of the age-old political debate, where ad hominem attacks are the norm and questions are rarely ever truly answered. Rather, it's a resource for someone who wants to learn more about the world without involving the people that hold the positions at all: Normal Debate has a blanket policy against attacking another writer, period.
Every Normal Debate starts with a position argument, which is essentially a long-form article that states the position of the author on a given issue. It's important that this position piece is effectively researched, well thought-out, and appropriately focused, because other users are then given an opportunity to state their opposition or support for this argument by writing their own, competing articles. Here, they can respond to the overall claim made by the original author by highlighting portions of their argument or by citing additional evidence. The best responses use a mixture of both, effectively using additional data to rebut the claim made by the original author
From here, the chain can continue indefinitely: unlike a real-life debate, no person ever gets the final word. But, if you've read for long enough, you're likely to find a common middle ground between the many authors that confirms something (we hope) relatively close to the truth. It's not likely that the consensus that emerges from this debate will be exactly that of the original author, but by reading a variety of opinions by both sides of the argument you're likely to get something that combines them all and adds nuance to your own understanding of the topic.
Finally, you're likely to read an article from time to time that you yourself find ridiculous or strange. Fortunately, everyone gets an opinion, and unfortunately, many of those opinions are bad, poorly informed, or just plain stupid. We encourage you: do your best to honestly explain to that user what the truth really is. Tell them they're wrong using evidence, reason, and facts. You'd be suprised how many people hold opinions on topics that they've never been personally challenged on, no matter how ridiculous the thought may be.
Normal Debate is currently in a public beta. As such, there may be issues with the website or other errors that prevent you from using it fully. Please email these concerns to [email protected].
- Normal Debate Team