Closing Statement
An Analysis of the Topic
Not surprisingly, upon discovering the topic of this most honorable debate -
The Fairy Tales of your youth are actually recounts of when magic was alive.
the mentation of this humble debater, without question a mere novice at his new found art, was for the moment rather at a loss for direction and
thereby that impression of calmness and safety which arises from out of that wellspring known to all as
deep understanding was entirely lacking
to the point of profound distress.
That is to say, at first blush I found our topic pretty darned confusing !
So, after having reflected upon the matter at some length, and after having revolved upon it within my mind, as it were, again and again, finally a
method for
possibly debating this topic presented itself, based on the following considerations -
1 )
"when magic was alive," had to mean somewhere in the
past.
2 )
"The Fairy Tales of your youth are actually recounts," in the same manner, had to mean somewhere in the present, or as is said in
the vernacular,
now.
Admittedly, this wasn't very much to go on, but forging bravely ahead, or clumsily, whichever the case may prove to be, ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) having
already been formulated, the following further observations presented themselves -
1.1 )
somewhere in the past would have to be far enough back enough so that,
"magic was alive." And not just some
namby-pamby
kind of magic, but
real live magic. 'How far back would that be?' I asked myself. 'Well, why not as far back as possible?' I thought. Which
of course is yet another question, but still good enough for the purpose at hand.
1.1.1 ) Pondering at this point for some time, I at last decided that
taking it to the limit would probably be ok, and so I settled on that
period in our collective history when humanity's
primordial ancestors were first running around, no doubt naked, or quite close to it, in the
forests of India, or Africa, or some other sub-tropical locale where just such an existence might be feasible, immediately after having only recently
beforehand jumped down from out of the trees which their own more chimpanzee-like progenitors had previously occupied.
1.1.2 ) Without doubt, at such a period in our earliest history, before mankind had any notion of
science whatever, a period before he even
knew the secret of making fire, and thus had always to carry an ember, continually refreshed from fire to fire to fire, all the way back to the
miraculous lightning strike which had ignited the first of them all, that holy fire, a spark from the almighty and, indeed divine source and
support of their very lives, the sun itself, delivered unto them by the great power of the gods, in the form of the supremely deadly thunderbolt, so
that he could cook his food, cauterize his wounds, harden the tips of pointed sticks for the making of weapons, etc, etc ... Get the idea ?
1.1.3 ) Way, way back ...
In the limit this would have been a time for men ( and of course women as well ) that the world in which they lived
was quite literally a
24/7 magic show.
1.1.4 ) From this point it is an absolute
no-brainer, IMHO, to assert that
of course our legends and fairy-tales are based on
perceptions and lore from those very first days when our ancestors, as I say, frolicked ( and, of course killed and were killed by the occasional
saber-toothed tiger, among many, many other formidable and
miraculous predators ) in those now long lost aforementioned jungles.
2.1 )
Now is simply
now. There doesn't seem to be much
wiggle room here, and so I felt this interpretation would be ok
too.
And so, considering that the understanding of the topic had been accomplished, I moved on.
Framing the Positions
This presentation, or at least most of it, has already been made in my opening statement, repeated here for convenience -
Framing the debate at hand, we have -
"The Fairy Tales of your youth are actually recounts of when magic was alive".
My opponent's role in this drama is to argue in favor of the claim and mine is to argue against.
From the statement of our topic, in terms of its literal syntax, based on the following,
... when magic was alive.
[it] would seem that the success of the pro position depends upon arguing successfully that Magic was once alive, but is now dead, and fairy tales
remind us of those former times.
Not explicitly stated, but seemingly obvious enough, at least to myself, though it is precisely at this point, admittedly, where I suspect I may have
missed the mark, was the converse of this position, the prosecution of which is my own role in this contest, which again, at least to my mind,
obviously must be the following -
The visible_villian's debate position
Magic was once alive, and is still now alive.
The reason it is obvious to me, but quite possibly may not have been to anyone else is that, based on the considerations detailed in paragraphs (
1.1.1 ) thru ( 1.1.3 ) above, there is quite clearly, that is to say
obviously no question that
primordial mankind lived completely
immersed in a world of magic in precisely the same manner as, for instance, a fish lives immersed in the watery world of an ocean or a fresh water
body.
I invite my reader to recall at this point it has been said,
"A fish has no idea what water is."
The
oral histories which developed in those early cultures, before writing was invented, no doubt became the legacy we all inherit today, a
mere 400 or so human generations later, in the form of our fairy-tales, legends and myths.
Hence, once again, to my mind anyway and perhaps, alas, to no one else's, the
only possible con position, based on the considerations
detailed in paragraph ( 1.1.4 ) is the one stated.
Closing Arguments
Since to state that,
"Magic was once alive and fairy tales remind us of those times," is equivalent to stating an
unquestionable
fact, based on the arguments set forth in the preceding section, the task which now lies before me is simply to prove that,
Magic is
still alive.
This is accomplished directly as follows.
Explaining the word
magic, Webster® says -
magic
2 a: an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source
[1]
And Webster® says the definition of
paranormal -
paranormal
not scientifically explainable.
[2]
We find that a
paranormal phenomenon is one which is, "not scientifically explainable", hence,
magic is a catagory of
paranormal phenomena.
The Matter of Modern Science, Electricity, Magnetism, Light, and Gravity
I will never forget something an instructor said during the first lecture of his 3rd year university electronics class which I attended. Paraphrasing,
it went something like this -
Although we can predict with extremely high accuracy how electricity will behave, we don't understand what electricity actually
is.
They didn't
know what electricity is? Amazement and shock and disappointment too, were my reactions to this unexpected information. Amazement
and shock because I had just naturally
assumed they had it all figured out, but I had just been informed this was not the case. Disappointment
because I really, really
did want to know the
secret behind the mystery ...
Not only does science not understand the essential nature of electricity, which long experience has shown what my instructor said that night was
correct - we can predict with astounding accuracy how it will behave, and design and build systems thereby which nowadays meet nearly miraculous
performance specifications, but -- we
still have absolutely no idea what electricity actually is !
In that very manner, since
science doesn't know what it is, electricity is therefore, most assuredly a
magical force or substance.
I still find this amazing, now many, many years later after that first university electronics lecture ... amazing !
Anyway, I can state finally that for exactly the same reason electricity is magical, so also are the other
physical entities and forces
mentioned in the heading of this section
magical as well.
That is to say, Magnetism, Light, and Gravity, and I am sure others as well are
magical forces for the same reason electricity is -
science
has absolutely no idea what these forces actually are !
And so, in closing, I believe I have completely proved, by the above arguments, the assertion that, "It is a
scientific fact that Electricity,
Magnetism, Light, and Gravity are
magical forces."
Epilogue
This was a most interesting battle, even if it was characterized by the occasional stray shot and inelegant maneuver.
Finally, may I extend my gratitude to the judges, my esteemed and most honorable opponent, Skyfloating and the forum at large for their skill, their
time and their interest. I hope you were all not too bored by this exercise.
With these closing words, I now submit my fate to the judges' tender mercies ...
) ) -
If you insist. Here are the answers 
