Debate has always been a crucial part of any democratic system. 

Even the Founding Fathers, including John Adams, argued that a republic could only survive if its people were educated enough, and free enough, to argue through their disagreements rather than have decisions imposed on them from above. 

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That idea still holds. What’s changed is social media, which has replaced substance with virality — turning debate into a popularity contest instead of a pursuit of truth. 

For many modern debates, the focus is no longer on listening to the other perspective or reaching some kind of common ground. Instead, debate has increasingly become a sport — a tit-for-tat contest where the goal is to score a viral moment that can be clipped and posted on TikTok.

But this also highlights a broader problem: Not everything needs to be debated simply for the sake of debating. A real debate needs a clear contention and some purpose behind it, not just an ungrounded claim. And even with a clear objective, you should still ask: Can this........

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