<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'><b style="font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Debate and dialogue</b><br>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"><b> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">Readers of this paper seemed to have experienced Gary
DuBrail as incessantly railing against the darker side of things "native
and local" (e.g., Micronesians do not plan) that I thought (many did, too)
contained many truths. His stance, not
surprisingly, roughed up a few feathers.
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">I read him more as that of a debater, a denizen much
encouraged on island where we train our young on the art of debating, if not
the instinct to attack on the jugular in order to win up on stage against less
confrontational "contestants".
In fact, debates are often described as gladiatorial contests rather
than a discourse to enlighten an audience over an issue. The West considers debate as meaningful
exchange to define ideas to a point where a divide is clearly delineated and
one chooses either to be "pro" or "con".</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">Some of us who grew up in the Protestant tradition of
Christianity were particularly spoon-fed with the feistiness of the
Luther-Calvin-Zwingli-Knox-Asbury traditions where the ability to engage the
magisterium of the holy Roman Church into heavy contentious debate was the norm
rather than the exception. We were
trained to go after the jugular against the Papists even after the Vatican II
opened up the fresh world of <i>oikumene. </i>Some of my warm-hearted brethren will
break bread with the </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">Episcopalians but will enter the shades of CK cathedral only
at a friend's funeral. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">The debate practice was carried into the niceties of English
Parliament when one was allowed to be sarcastic to another as long as one was
funny in the doing or was indirect in the process, be gentlemanly, as it
were. Pinoys are Asian masters on
indirection <i>(mag-padaplis)</i>, with an
oft-quoted local saying, <i>Bato-bato sa
langit, ang tamaan, huwag magagalit, </i>("if the shoe fits, wear
it," though the saying is less blunt and literally means, "stones in
the sky, whoever is hit would please not be angry").<i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"><i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">Gary decided to retire to the calmer waves of Waikiki in
spite of having relations on island; at 75 years old, I can understand the
impatience with impertinence and spineless sloppy thoughts. It is in the nature of debates that conflicts
ensue. My take for the moment is on the
form of discourse. Given what we now
know about knowledge, airing out thoughts does not constitute disagreements,
only differences of opinions, ideas and perspectives. It is in "doing" that a
"resolve" is debatable, and even then, decisions need not be
combative.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font size="4">CCTV's Dialogue in China is a program that airs
twice daily where the anchor hosts a guest or two to discuss a relevant
subject. The program promotes that
"ideas matter". Fair
enough. Cognitive knowledge is after all
the cornerstone of European meta-think and western
education. There are not many English
shows in China, and save for CCTV sponsored by the government, there are not
many choices unless one has cable, which may carry programs from Singapore, Hong Kong, and other countries.</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">It is possible that the producers of the CCTV Dialogue
program have "debate" in mind because in most instances, they prod
their guests to an "either/or" position, culturally foreign to the
Chinese setting that is clearly "and/both" in its <i>yin-yang </i>characteristic that avoids
conflict to keep "face".
Confrontational as befitting its western role models, the program in
English looks like it decided on the "compare and contrast" method
that leads to unavoidable polarized positions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Debate on Eton's fields was cricket where conflict is
decided by the bat, the thrown ball, and the skill of the batter, with all the
language of combat involved on the reality of play and game. <i>"De-ba-te"</i>
in Philippine politics when I was growing up was a matter of honor, often
resulting in life and death situation when grudge turns into violent
vengeance. The question of honor, Sicilian in origin through </span><font size="4">Italy and Spain, resulted in many tears, like what
the young Ferdinand Marcos was accused on causing when the elected Nalundasan
ridiculed Marcos' father after bettering him in the polls.</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18px;">We see this debate spirit at work in the EU's strident
application of sanctions on Russia where EU's new security officer justified it
as simply applying pressure.
"Sanctions is strategy", she said, to gain negotiating
advantage. Whoa! Does the lady ever read history? I mean, groups of people with armed forces do
not play cricket on the fields of Eton for strategic advantage?</span><font size="4"> They drive their tanks to the border!</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18px;">EU measures everyone by the value of the Euro supported by a
worldwide Wall Street managed by global corporate powers, but not all economies
operate out of market values. In some
quarters, "honor and integrity" and the promotion of indirection
through "fashionable facades" are virtues of power that move human
souls. These are priceless, though not
always sane and reasonable, and </span><font size="4">unmeasurable by the Euro and US dollar
value scales!</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 18px;">Debate hones wit and glib; dialogue talks the language of
the heart. We reserve an extra seat for
anyone inclined to dialogue. Got time?</div>
<br>
<div style="font-size: 18px; clear: both;"><i>j'aime la vie</i><br>
<div><i>yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!</i></div>
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