Reply #37: The point of constructive discussion

[skepticscott]

is to discover the truth and winnow out falsehood, true? In the long run, does anyone remember whether the advocates of things now accepted as true were primarily polite or impolite? In the long run, evidence and logic win out over attitude, and only treating nonsense with politeness and deference allows it to endure.

And I would have thought you would have taught your young debaters at least the basics of what to consider in evaluating the truth of a proposition or argument.