And these days freedom of speech needs defenders, for when I look around, I find it under attack everywhere. Blacklisting, cancel culture, libraries being closed or defunded, classic works of literature being banned or bowdlerized or removed from classrooms, an ever growing list of “toxic” words the mere utterance of which is now forbidden no matter the context or intent, the erosion of civility in discourse. Both the Rabid Right and the Woke Left seem more intent on silencing those whose views they disagree with, rather than besting them in debate. And the consequences for those who dare to say things deemed offensive have been growing ever more dire; jobs lost, careers ended, books cancelled, “deplatforming.”
Full blog post here: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2022/08/15/let-his-voice-be-heard/
I like debates but they can be easily be manipulated by having a weak one side or control opposition.
Another problem is how media covers debates, it does not matter if Kamala was an embarrassment if the media either ignores her incompetence, deflects or lies about it. A large portion of people do not watch debates but summaries from media or reddit.
But I still think public debates are the way to go.
Political debates are a stupid archaic holdover of the pre-TV pre-Internet era. Nobody cares about the topics. If we are going to keep them we should completely revamp how they are run and what the goal is. (because it was never about convincing people of the facts)
I do like the "roundtable" discussions more commonly seen in Europe. But something like a long-form YouTube podcast would probably be more effective. Just have everyone shooting the shit and asking questions of the other candidates with enough light moderation to keep people on topic.