12/2/2008

I hate arguing. I dislike people who argue, and I especially dislike the fact that they usually can get me to argue as well. That's really all my English class is - collective argumentation. What I thought would be an arena to read and analyze books, all in accord with my own opinions and methods, has become nothing more than an opportunity for a group of high-minded individuals to demonstrate their "infinite arsenals" of irrelevant factoids and argumentative skills.

Debate. That's the root of it all. Anyone who competitively argues as an excuse for an extra-curricular activity has no purpose in life other than elevating their own self-esteem to surpass those of the people they antagonize through ridicule and contrariness.

People like that bring out the worst in me. I always react adversely - becoming righteously indignant and angry. I have less respect for myself in that state than I do for those who provoke me into such emotions with their constant contradictions and pointless refutations. It is therefore imperative, I have decided, to maintain self-respect as a priority over all other emotions. Maintaining personal composure in the face of an ignorant debater will ultimately reflect negatively on the belligerent. The prospect of a satisfying, argumentative victory (while not only rare) is not worth the humiliation that accompanies a loss of composure.