One Last Point
Colin and Maxwell, I am not again schools spirit (the liking of one's school more than another's), but I am against these nationalistic rivalries (the belief in one's school's superiority such that compels one to act negatively toward others). In context of this specific rivalry, I will never of course think anything other than that we are better than Lincoln because, well, we simple are (speech and debate: us: 5th in state, them: something far behind, football: us: 6 championships in the past 13 years, them: last championship was 1966... I could think of many more examples). Nevertheless, the destructive behavior that results from this is indisputably barbaric.
Aha.... we do have you on the defense now. First you say school spirit and rivalries are bad, now you say they're good, but the stuff that happens from then are bad. Face it, Adam, we won the arguement.
We?
Uh, okay Colin.
Adam...I think we all agree vandalism, planting trees in football fields, ect is generally bad. You'll get no argument there, though really even a harmloess tree planting is just good times, doesn't hurt anybody, and is generally the weakest prank I've heard of in my entire life.
So what are you saying, Adam? Is that all?
Are you saying that chanting stuff like "Bee-son Three-Picks" and "Just like last year' are violent to these teenagers from Lincoln's self esteem?
Are you saying that them tossing condoms at Wilson fans last year was too barbaric?
Where do you draw the line? I think those two things are a-okay and that basically vandalism and actual phycial violence is where the line should be.
Rivalries are fun, unless they go too over the top with stupid stuff. Depends really what you think is over the top, as you kind of mass-generalize such barbaric actions and don't go into it.
By the way, big props on knoing the 1966 Lincoln football stat. I know I told you the 6 of 13 one but that's impressive. In fact, I didn't even know that.
Colin, I think you've upped your rhetoric to an unsustainable level. School spirit and rivalries are not necessarily bad, but rivalries (not really school spirit) almost inevitably lead to destructive consequences. Therefore, rivalries are almost inevitably bad. Think of it like a connect-the-dots activity.
Yes and debates almost inevitably end with one person bashing the other with a cane, so we shouldn't debate about anything, in fact, let's stop this one right now. Though I wonder if anybody would send me canes if mine broke.
The thing about connect-the-dots is that each point is supposed to lead to another. That is their purpose. However, your points don't exist to be connected. Plus, many of them are just plain false: rivalries don't necessarily lead to destructive activity. Teenagers being retards leads to destructive activity, and rivalries just happen to be used as excuses.
So there.