I've been thinking for quite awhile that the forum-theory of the Vs. Debate is no longer of value, for various reasons. As such, I've been pondering setting up a debate challenge page with a little list of rules, so that anyone who wants to tangle on some topic can come get some. (The debate need not even be public . . . unlike some people, I'm interested in the facts and not the spectacle.)
Well, some fellow has anticipated me on this. I had this feedback-heckler who, besides being quite saucy, has offered nothing of consequence except regurgitated old arguments already responded to on the main site. Indeed, I was about ready to simply hand him a link to the site search page. Instead, I simply let him know that his claims had already been specifically responded to on the main pages, and that he should give them a read.
His final e-mail was a challenge to debate me on three general topics (i.e. fleet and vessel capabilities, ground force capabilities, and production capacity). In other words, he wants to debate all the main things that would be involved in a war.
That, however, is absurd. We would literally end up revisiting the entire Vs. Debate. The reason peculiar minutiae like "do blasters produce sparks when they hit something?" gets discussed is because it is a part of the wider debate. Some minor bit of minutiae gets used to demonstrate some claim, and that claim applies to the debate at large.
(In the case of the blasters, the idea that the answer was "no" was used by pro-SW debaters to try to drive up blaster firepower (and then SW armor) levels. The idea was that a blaster shot where sparks were produced had to be against metal, and thus there was vaporized metal. If there was vaporized metal, then the blasters were stronger, they felt. They did this, apparently, under the theory that increased blaster firepower equals superior ground force capability. Unfortunately for that argument, I simply pointed out that most if not all blaster shots in RoTJ produced sparks on impact, whether against metal surfaces, clothing, or biological things like trees or tentacles.)
So, if you're someone who wants to debate me, please pick a more narrow topic.
