Everyone loves a good debate, its a chance to formally present an argument that you are passionate about in a disciplined manner through logical consistency and factual accuracy of the topic at hand. However most people don’t seem to understand this concept and thus fail at it. I’m here to give you some tips on how to properly debate about anime related subjects without it becoming a straight up flame war…
Of course this can be applied to almost anything fictional related material, but this time I’m more focused on the anime community as that is the community I’m most familiar with, so lets get started.
1. Be Prepared With Facts, Not Slurs.
The anime community has a very infamous reputation for been extremely passionate about the anime they love and sometimes that tends to blind them from looking at thing from a different perspective. It is important, damm near crucial, to KNOW YOUR FACTS BEFORE OPENING YOUR MOUTH. If you’re about to counter someone’s opinion about a particular subject, please do so in the most respectful manner possible.
Calling someone a “fucking retard” or telling them “drink bleach fuckface” will not get your point across at all but will only start a chain of events that will eventually lead to your ultimate demise. Even if the person uttered nothing but pure shit, the best way to counter them is with facts. In the end, everyone reading the topic will know who knows their stuff and who doesn’t.
2. Don’t Be A Sheep.
What I mean by this is, don’t just listen to what Influencers in the Anime community say and take it as straight up fact. I can’t tell you how many times people have used a Anime youtuber or a big media as a reference to back up their arguments. You got to remember that these people are just fans of the series just like you and me and are also able to fall into bias of that said anime. Do your OWN research and I have your own open mind about certain things. Don’t let them hit you with that genjutsu.
3. Be Respectful Of The Other Parties Opinions
When debating, you need to be ready to take criticism of your opinion and have it be proven wrong at any given time. It’s very important to separate your emotion from the topic been discussed. Yes, you can be passionate about what you’re talking about but you can’t get offended if someone says that your opinion is wrong in certain areas.
That’s one of the biggest issue within the anime community, when you say that a certain character of a series, a certain scene in the anime or even the anime itself is “trash”, people get really heated up and for some unknown reason (which science has yet to explain) get offended and feel like they have just been personally attacked.
You gotta be prepared to the criticism and dish out your own criticism without been a complete ass about it. Been opened minded to what the other person is saying, can be beneficial to helping you combat back with facts that can counter what they are saying and get your point across in a respectable manner.
4. Acknowledge Your Own Biases
C’mon, don’t act like you ain’t got no bias, it’s cool, we all biases towards our favorite anime and acknowledging those biases is important. Everyone hates discussing with a fanboy or fangirl because there’s no reasoning with these types of people. So it’s important to NOT be a fanboy or fangirl during a debate. Be cool.
5. Make Sure You’re Having Fun
This is by far THE most important tip that I could give you, make sure that you are actually enjoying the debate you are currently engaged in. If you get stressed out, angered or you feel like your IQ is dropping from trying to apply reason and logic to the doggy poop that was presented to you, WALK AWAY.
In most cases, your daily debates will probably occur on the internet, in forums and in comments section of someones video. The moment you feel like the discussion has become a chore for you, just walk away. I know, you want to prove this person (who is probably across the world and you probably will never see again) wrong in what he/she is saying, but asked yourself this, is it worth the hassle and stress? Am I still having fun? If the answer is YES then by all means go ahead but if the answer is NO then the best thing to do is to just walk away and leave them to someone else who might have the urge to prove them wrong.
Well that’s all the wisdom I got for you today. I hope this helped you out, let me know what you think and Thank You for reading.
