Thx,
Resolved: The F-word is the most powerful word in the English language
OBSERVATIONS:- CON accepts all definitions except PRO’s definition of “Powerful,” which CON directly challenges.
PRO’s flawed definition of “Powerful” is:
“having great effectiveness, as a speech, speaker, description, reason, etc.”“
Effectiveness” means the ability to achieve a certain undefined outcome, which means under the definition, “power” can be literally anything depending on the goal in mind. Not only is this extremely vague, it invites ambiguity and chaos.
Another reason this is flawed is because under the definition, something with objectively great power will be bottlenecked by overly-nit picky goals. For example, does a thermonuclear bomb make a good hairbrush? But at the same time, does a hairbrush have more influence over people than a thermonuclear bomb? As you can see, we can not use PRO’s definition to outline an objective measure of power at all.
A better definition is
Oxford Dictionary’s
“Having control and influence over people and events.”More specifically, since we are talking semantically, “
the ability to elicit reaction.” For example, a word that leads to public backlash and the
resignation of a US Senator, is objectively a powerful word. Unfortunately for PRO, under this metric, his case falls flat.
- The word “is” in the resolution means we are confining the debate SOLELY to what is PRESENTLY the most powerful word.
CONTENTION 1: INFLUENCE Currently, the N-word, defined as
“used instead of or in reference to the word “nigger” because of its taboo nature” has far more influence in society.
Young adults were
surveyed as to which words they found the most offensive, and overwhelmingly they rated the N-word as the most offensive word.
A
survey of the broader population finds that all ethnic/political groups agree the word is extremely offensive. For race, 55% of whites and 59% of blacks found it offensive, with many more labeling it "inappropriate."
The taboo nature of the word can be easily demonstrated. What other word will give you an instant condemnation as a racist, an accusation that regularly leads to jobs lost, lives ruined?
Just recently, an officer was
fired for using the N-word, and there are countless other examples. One notable one is when a Florida Senator
stepped down after using the n-word in front of black colleagues.
There is none. And it certainly is not the F-word. In the young adult survey above, they rated the N word
2.5 times more offensive.In fact, The Conversation specifically outlines why
swear words like “f*ck” are becoming less and less offensive over time while the N-word and other slurs gain offensiveness.“The F-word really raised eyebrows in 1972. In 2019, it had dropped to 23rd in my survey, just ahead of “asshole.”...These rankings have barely budged over the past decade.So why do many bad words sting young people less than they used to?Partly it’s because they’re so common. People are now estimated to use an average of 80-90 profanities per day...So it’s no shock that these words would lose their impact. But this doesn’t mean young people find nothing offensive. Specifically, they don’t like slurs.”REFUTATIONS:
"Power"?
Ego?
This will be fun. I like discussing languages