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Oct. 11, 2005 Before Ron Lewis completes his victory tour across Useless Knowledge, his column “How Do You Know When You’ve Won A Debate?” (October 10, 2005) has come up for further review. And, in light of indisputable written evidence, Ron does not win. In fact, he finds himself fighting for a wild-card spot. To understand what I’m saying, let me go back to another column Ron wrote, “I Am So Tired of Racist Accusations” (October 6, 2005). In the very first paragraph of this piece, Ron said, without additional qualification or justification, “Timothy Stelly and Claxton Graham on this site are racists.” In an email that same day, Ron attempted to clarify his remarks. He wrote, “When I say you two (me and Tim Stelly) are 'racists', I don't mean to imply that you literally discriminate against whites, I just don't think y'all care for whites at all and exaggerate the level of racism in our country.” At which point, in an email response sent the next day, I called Ron a “lazy writer”. This was not an emotional response to Ron’s remarks. By his own admission, he indicated that neither Tim nor I were “racists” by the most recognized definition of that word—someone who actively discriminates against, is biased against, or shows outright hatred toward a person because of the color of his or her skin. If he had written in his column what he wrote to me via email, instead of choosing the easier way out, neither Ken Hughes nor Frederick Smith would’ve been compelled to defend either Tim or myself (although their support is greatly appreciated). I also would not have been compelled to compose my own personal defense, which Ron has graciously received and acknowledged. So when Ron mentioned in “How Do You Know When You’ve Won A Debate?” that I called him a “lazy writer”, he’s absolutely right. But as I’ve done here, I clarified that statement with facts, not emotions. I’ve learned over the course of time that in business, as in personal debate, sticking to the facts is much more effective than relying on feelings to make a case. How do you think Joe Friday solved all those cases? In all fairness, though, I do owe Ron a response on a few other things. I don’t know if he’ll be so willing to claim victory on that, either, after he reads it. ------------ About the author: Claxton Graham has written a number of articles for Useless Knowledge. He works as a business systems analyst. Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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