[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

this debate was like all other debates, total nonsense. Debates are an antiquated 19th century publicity stunt and excuse to create press copy. In the 19th century debates and public speeches were just choreographed opportunities for press releases that could be published across the nation, especially after the Civil War and the advent of the telegraph.

Today it is essentially an anachronism, pointless and out of place. We don't need these staged events to get press copy and material. Indeed no one ever even "wins" these things, Trump supporters will come out of this feeling great like "see he totally stuck it to that lying bitch!" meanwhile all of the Democrats have been having a victory dance as if Overlord Hillary said anything substantial or uplifting last night.

She really didn't silence Trump or address the criticisms he threw at her, those Feel the Bern people who don't like her will certainly not like her any more now, probably somewhat less because Trump leveled the kinds of accusations that they agree with. Its not that they will support Trump so much as they will not be enthused to support Overlord Hillary.

I vote in 2020 we finally abandon meaningless 19th century political theater and do something that works?

i disagree with this, especially in the TV age. debates used to be reproduced in the newspaper in the XIX century, nowadays we can see for ourselves.

it's not really about who's prettier, it's about getting information about the candidates the same way that those who work with them do-- in "person".

sure, it's staged, but you can still glean a lot from visual information. how do they operate under pressure? do they huff and hyperventilate? do they hold up well when in a difficult spot? are they witty, or dense?

and then there's body language which is how we transmit 90% of what we say in real life.

we're wired to take in oodles more information from body language than we do from words alone-- and printed words are just abstractions. so we can learn from the candidates a lot more than they want to say.

here a couple of illuminating examples from last night: