In all the debate about Afghanistan, we don’t hear much about our obligation to the wretched lives of Afghan women. They are being treated as collateral damage as the big boys discuss geopolitical goals.
The dinner table is a lively debate, and everybody weighs in in a different way. I like that, though.
Since January 2003, at the height of the debate on the possible unilateral strike against Iraq, I have advocated for a reinstatement of the military draft to ensure a more equitable representation of people making sacrifices in wars in which the United States is engaged.
Germany, because of the fact and the perception of a special relationship with Russia, is the only one who can influence Russian debate. Russians also believe that Germans understand them best because they’ve been through a big war and know what humiliation means.
Excluding certain problems from the political debate by making it a crime to discuss them won’t lead to the disappearance of these concerns, let alone contribute to a solution.
Politics, by definition, is risk averse. Perhaps that’s why America was so awestruck when Barack Obama ended the Black vs White debate by painting his political canvas in shades of grey.
In a way, the debate about Margaret Thatcher in Britain has just gotten fossilized in this notion that she is either this she-devil who wrecked the industrial base of the country and ruined the lives of millions, or she is the blessed Margaret who saved the nation and rescued us from our post-war decline.
Good directors don’t answer questions with their work. They generate debate and create discussion.
Let’s talk about policing and public safety. Let’s debate what works and what does not. We must abandon practices that do not work, and do more of the things that actually do work to save lives.
I refer, of course, to the debts our nation has amassed for itself over decades of indulgence. It is the new Red Menace, this time consisting of ink. We can debate its origins endlessly and search for villains on ideological grounds, but the reality is pure arithmetic.
I have a few theories and trains of thought that I wouldn’t expose because they are not anyone’s business. I hold them sacred, it’s how I feel, it’s my opinion, not up for debate, and not meant to be shared.
In Britain, the theatre has traditionally been where the public goes to think about its past and debate its future. The formation of the National Theatre, at the Old Vic, near the South Bank, in 1963, institutionalized the symbolic importance of drama by giving it both a building and state funding.
I’m not shy about heated debate or passionate discourse, but when people get crazy or rude, that’s a buzz kill. There’s got to be a better code of conduct, some basic etiquette.
In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro made history by participating in the first male-on-female vice presidential debate against George H. W. Bush. What should have been a groundbreaking moment for gender equality in politics became a forum for old gender expectations.
Alcoholism is a disease. People will debate whether it is a disease of the mind, of genetics, or of circumstances. I don’t have the answer to that debate, and frankly I don’t care because when you try to pinpoint ‘why,’ it can often lead to blaming another person, an incident in your past, or circumstances.
I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it.
I heard there was a debate about fighting teammates, and if a fight should happen because the fans or promoter wants it, I will fight a teammate, but family is ridiculous.
My domination is getting so strong that it’s starting to become much clearer now who’s the best featherweight, but I’ve been raising this debate for a long time.
My work shows how important it is that independent researchers should have access to data so that government statistics can be checked and so that the democratic debate within India can be informed by the different interpretations of different scholars.
I emphasize teachers because they are largely left out of the debate. None of the bombastic reports that come from Washington and think tanks telling us what needs to be ‘fixed’ – I hate such a mechanistic word, as if our schools were automobile engines – ever asks the opinions of teachers.
We need to punch back against the extremes of both the left and the right and define the terms of the debate ourselves.
Harvard is a wondrously tolerant climate for debate and exchange among a wide variety of thoughts, backgrounds, and beliefs, but the voice of religion on campus is largely inaudible.
Duplicity in matters of religion is not confined to Pakistan, but it hurts the most in societies where debate on religion is asphyxiated and preachers of hate have become keepers of faith.
You tell me that ‘Date Night’ was good? I’m not going to see it. I will debate you on it, having no knowledge of the footage in the film. I was next to someone on the plane watching it, and they were dozing off.
To pass to the deluge, and beyond it, and to come to close quarters with our proper division, the origin of Romance itself is a very debatable subject, or rather it is a subject which the wiser mind will hardly care to debate much.
In another life, before taking the veil of journalistic purity, I practiced the black arts of a political operative, including ‘debate prep.’
I was on the debate team.
Politics is – once in a while – a forum for serious debate about political philosophy.
If men disappeared tomorrow, we’d still be having the abortion debate. If men disappeared tomorrow, there would still be racism and conflicts over religion.
From the days when I was a kid, and I would sit at the dinner table with Dad, we would debate everything, from the best hamburger in the world to the most important news items. We always had real challenging conversations. That translated to hanging out with my buddies. It wasn’t always something cerebral or important.
Filibusters should require 35 senators to… make a commitment to continually debate an issue in reality, not just in theory. The number of votes needed to overcome a filibuster should be reduced to 55 from 60.
There ought to be a thoughtful welfare-reform debate that doesn’t turn into something that could be called scapegoating.
I like debate and argument, so I’m usually all right with disagreement, and I’m even all right if the critic doesn’t come to a clear thumbs up or thumbs down. But I need the disagreement to have some kind of line I can follow on the map. I like following an interesting mind along it.
Our politicians debate this, but our scientists don’t. A huge majority of climate scientists say climate change is happening. They say we’re causing it and we need to do something about it before it has a terrible effect on all of us.
I don’t believe that using inflammatory rhetoric on either side of a debate is productive.
Defining the terms of the debate generally dictates who’s gonna’ win it.
Governmental intervention and personal responsibility are not mutually exclusive issues, but they do frame a ‘do it ourselves’ vs. ‘what are you doing for us’ debate. For the black community, that’s a debate that’s been raging at least as far back as the W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington philosophical grudge matches.
The Office for Budget Responsibility correctly stay out of the political debate and do not assess the long-term costs and benefits of E.U. membership.
There’s a perennial debate about whether the propagandistic tripe produced by establishment media outlets is shaped more by evil or by stupidity. Personally, I think it’s both: a healthy dose of each is needed. The system design is malicious, while those who serve as its public face are generally vacant.
I’m not getting into a public debate with Jack Nicklaus.
Our schools should be places that encourage the open debate of ideas and teach important morals to our young people so that they know right from wrong.
Sometimes you feel sad to be left out of a big debate.
What passes for real debate in Washington often seems more like an echo chamber, with politicians talking at politicians.
Ideas must always be subjected to debate and challenge.
I grew up in Orlando, Florida, and I joined the debate team right around the time of the 2000 election.
I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific.
One of the hardiest myths in British public life is that there is a conspiracy of silence on immigration. Liberals and leftists, it is alleged, have bandied together to prevent debate or discussion of ‘mass immigration’ into the U.K., caused by Labour’s ‘open door’ policies.
I’m all for a passionate debate, and sometimes things can be heated, which is fine, up to a point. As long as we remember that we are human beings.
When I listen to the complaints that follow just about every presidential debate, I’m reminded of the well-worn joke about the Jewish mother who buys her son two shirts. When he shows up at dinner wearing one, she says: ‘What’s the matter? You didn’t like the other one?’
It may happen sometimes that a long debate becomes the cause of a longer friendship. Commonly, those who dispute with one another at last agree.
Since social networks gained popularity extremely rapidly, there had been a debate as to whether social media was a fad. There are countless pieces of evidence now proving the contrary, among them the explosion in Twitter growth and Facebook’s public listing.
