The recent Alex Jones rant is a very good example, how NOT to debate.
Alex just proofed to everybody that he is a lunatic plus did not get his message across.

This thread is not about gun control. I just want to lay out, how you can debate, or deal with media, if you ever want or have to.

I will take the Piers Morgan vs Alex Jones as an example. My own opinion on guns differs a lot from Jones's, but for the sake of it, I will show you the basic debate rules, and how he should have done it.

First of all, time and the attention span of the viewer are limited. So you want to prepare your 3 basic bullet points to get your message across. (prepare other 2 bullet points as Plan B to be sure).

So in the case of pro-gun Alex Jones it could be:

1. I want to be able to defend myself and my family.
2. It's a constitutional right.
3. The problem are not guns, but persons with psychological problems.

For every bullet point you want to have a very good, emotianal example, which everybody can relate to.

Example:

1. The single mother of two who defended her home with a gun to fend of a burglar - what would have happenend when she did'nt had a gun?
2. This is what the country is based on. Mention key words like "Freedom" and so on.
3. Here you can go into the role of side effects of antidepressants used by the latest school-shooters.

Then the TTT-Rule: Touch, talk, turn.

Of course Piers Morgan (or any other "opponent" in your debate) wants to get his points across, or even provoke you, to show what a nutcase you are. What you do: TTT.

For example Piers ask about your believes on 9/11.

You touch the subject: "Piers, this debate is about gun control. Not 9/11. (Pause)
Talk: "On 9/11 the weapons used have been boxcutters, which shows that even without guns terrorism can happen"

Turn: "You see, one of the first reactions after 9/11 was to bring armed Sky-marshalls to planes
So we need armed people to defend ourselves against terrorism."

Talk slow. Use short sentences. Make pauses for emphasis. Respect your host (you are a guest on HIS show) and don't talk him down. Dont shout or yell -EVER!

Boom. You filled your 7 minutes, you brought your point across and get out as a serious, reasonable person.

What Jones did was the exact opposite: in the first 2 minutes he went from gun control, to Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Indian rape case to global banking and "mass murder pills" -- Too many points, none of them related to the actual discussion about CT-Shooting/gun control or the deportation of Morgan.
He shouted, yelled, did not let Morgan talk, and the fell for the 9/11 trap.

He lost it big time there already, just to go even worse: calling for a fistfight (showing that he IS violent), personal attack on Piers and all english folks by mocking the accent. These are debate tactics spoiled teenagers use. Every adult who uses these tactics is just a pathetic sad loser. You NEVER EVER want to go there.

What disturbs me most is, that AJ is working since ages in media, and does not even know these basic rules of a civilised debate.

And once again, this thread is NOT about gun control. It's about how to debate. Inputs welcome.

Responsible debate format, how he should have handled it, and how I would have handled it.

Perhaps Alex felt that rabble-rousing would bring greater attention to his cause?

It was a losing proposition to begin with. The vast majority of those who pay attention to the MSM are already disinclined to believe or identify with anything Jones says. Add on top of that his tendency to jump around chaotically and his overall abrasive personality, and of course he won't be perceived in a positive light by the MSM audience. They're conditioned to be skeptical of anything he says, can't make sense of what he's saying anyway, and in the end is just dismissed as... well, kind of a crazy dick.

And this happens all the time. I've heard and seen him as a guest on other radio and TV shows, and it's the same thing every time. I think this is one of those instances where you have a good message, but a really bad messenger. Perhaps his ego will never allow it, but I think he needs to seriously reconsider ever appearing in a MSM format again. His message and persona will never be compatible with that audience.

I didn't see what you saw in the broadcast. What I saw was AJ going to give Darth Vader's minion, or one dripping with the blood of innocents, a good swift and hard kick in the family jewels, and didn't see him going to "debate" but really strongly get his points across, which were the right ones. In other words, saw Alex being Alex.

As for the way he gets upset about things. Good!

Do you think just maybe, he's trying to get others riled up and showing some backbone about the issues unfolding around them that they just sit back and passively ignore.

We need more people riled up, not violent but extremely assertive with their hired employees, they put in office, so they don't walk over our liberties and start to serve and protect all citizens constitutional rights, freedom and happiness

Was Alex right in his premise, more guns less crime? I don't think he was. Arizona is gun friendly, yet it is high on gun deaths. People are to cosy with their ownership of a deadly weapon, which should only be used self-defense, and the trouble is all to often, it is used pre-emptively and without thought, yet even the law will back that up. But the argument killer is that military high power automatic weapons should not be available to anyone except the military. The second amendment as intended, is not what you have practised today which is pretty much, where you are standing. unless you end up in court, and where a judge DECIDES.
In this case, Alex is both right and wrong, trouble is with the rant, he didn't lay out anything that actually gives him or anyone else for that matter, the 'right to keep and bear arms' except where he mentioned government, or rogue government, and that comes with the rest; 'well trained militia'

What if the conspiracy angle is different then you think?

Maybe AJ and Jesse Ventura are connected with a large group of people with a lot of power in the US who would like the government to have less control so they can have more.

If you really pay attention you might be able to pick up on what im talking about. My first notice of this came when Jesse Ventura mentioned something a little out of the ordinary during an interview one time. i will try and find it.

@Unity_99:

I didn't see what you saw in the broadcast. What I saw was AJ going to give Darth Vader's minion, or one dripping with the blood of innocents, a good swift and hard kick in the family jewels, and didn't see him going to "debate" but really strongly get his points across, which were the right ones. In other words, saw Alex being Alex.

No personal attack, but this post is a good example how NOT to debate.
I do not even get what you are talking about. Who are Darth Vader's minions? Has Darth Vader (a fictional character) become the CEO of CNN ? Dripping with the blood of the innocents ?? A hard kick in the family jewels? (Is it about a street fight, or about a civilised debate?) Care to elaborate what that all means?
Are we talking Star Wars now ? Promoting violence? It s all very confusing.

I agree in your last phrase: Alex being Alex.

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@onequestion:

What if the conspiracy angle is different then you think?

I never talked about a conspiracy angle, nor do i see a conspiracy in here. I am talking about how to hold a civilised debate and getting a point across.
There may or may be no relations or agendas between AJ and Jesse.

On a side note, personally I tend to avoid the word conspiracy - since every time I used it in discussions people start to try puttin me in looney bin, since the word is strongly attached to people behaving like AJ.

I found the whole thing to be quite entertaining, Ahh, yes, another brilliant performance by the seemingly unstable Mr.Alex Jones. I should have turned it off the second he started wagging his finger and yelling like an angry Klansman, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was excited by the Jones melt down that was starting and even more excited by the thought of him totally losing it, tackling Morgan, and beating him half to death ... which may have made it more interesting.

MASSMURDERPILLS!!!!

Am I the only one who is sick of the same old script here ... bud? Alex Jones isn't the Jean Jacques Rousseau wanna-be that he makes a sad, crazed attempt to portray. Is it just me, or does it seem like Alex Jones MUST be working for someone and is paid to instill a sense of fear and anger, stir up controversy, and discredit any ideas, theories, or people that go against the official BS stories we are force-fed? He has quite a way with adding absurd, seemingly fictional facts, and embellished statistics to a large pile of slightly more common, rational theories and ideas. He talks about things like bringing to light the truth behind 9/11, or auditing the federal reserve, or about how our freedom of speech is slowly being taken away ... and ends up completely discrediting those once obvious truths and rational ideas by becoming enraged and flipping out on his radio show listeners for not getting angry enough about the Mexicans that are crossing the border, and making outlandish statements like "juice boxes are turning your kids gay!" and "The government is pumping your local police with steroids". In the mind of your average stupid schmuck that believes everything they are told to believe, the lines blur, and it all looks the same. The guy that want's to see the Presidents birth certificate now becomes as nuts as Alex Jones. So, it's no shock that Alex would go on Piers Morgan's show and yell at him for expressing his freedom of speech (not saying I agree with Piers. He's foreign and therefor his opinion doesn't count). Piers (or CNN, whatever) obviously want's to infringe on your right to keep and bear arms, and form a well regulated militia anyway (it's necessary to the security of a free state!), so what better way to humiliate the cause? Subject the viewer to an obnoxious Alex Jones rant about taking Miss.America's gun away from her, raping unarmed Indian women to death with 4ft polls, and counting how many chimpanzees can dance on the head of a pin. With the help of an overzealous, methed out Alex Jones, CNN just made up a tun of peoples minds on the 2nd Amendment. The less thinking they do for themselves, the happier they are. , oh well ...... we will always have youtube videos to remind us of the day Alex Jones tried to subliminally coerce the grossly dis-informed viewing audience of CNN (or Piers Morgan ... whatever) into taking suicide pills.

Jeez, that was confusing, but not as bad as the # they put on FOX