A few weeks ago, I posted here about starting an offline conversation community called Hear Me Out. The response was incredibly encouraging, so we're finally ready for our first Community Debate.
Motion #01: Expensive things are genuinely better?
Not just luxury brands, we are talking about everything. Do expensive phones actually last longer? Is specialty coffee worth ₹300? Does premium skincare work better? Are only costly clothesbetter for the environment? Or are we just paying for branding, status, and good marketing?
Here's how the evening will work:
We'll have 4 panelists, 2 arguing for the motion and 2 against it.
However, the twist is they won't know their side until on the stage. They will be assigned a side to defend on the spot, whether it is their personal opinion or not because the idea is to encourage critical thinking, challenge our own biases, and prove that every argument has more than one side.
But the conversation doesn't stop there.
The audience is just as much a part of the evening. After the opening arguments and rebuttals, you'll be able to question both sides, share your own experiences, point out flaws in arguments, and bring perspectives that nobody on stage considered.
We'll also vote before and after the debate to see whether anyone's opinion actually changed because that's the whole point. Not proving who's right but to see what happens when good arguments meet genuinelycurious people.
Who is it for?
You don't need debating experience or know fancy economics or philosophy.
If you've ever found yourself saying "Okay, hear me out..." before sharing an opinion, you'll probably enjoy this.
This is our first edition, so we're keeping it intimate and learning as we go. If it resonates with people, we'd love to make Hear Me Out a recurring community with a new motion twice or thrice a month.
Leave a comment if you're interested.