"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
I spent an awesome weekend judging the Harlingen South speech and debate tournament. I spent more time chatting with the students and I must say, I am thoroughly impressed with the sheer magnitude of brilliance displayed in these kids. I heard Orations on growing up "gifted" and remembered the loneliness of my own childhood. I heard debates that showed an incredible skill for logic and thinking on the fly. I marveled at how much these kids were like me. I felt I was having a chance to mentor a new generation of geniuses, all as devious as myself. (Yes, I mean Laura, Natalie, and Elias just to name a few.) I even got time to chat with some and really have fun instead of just sitting there judging them on their speaking or debate skills.
In any case, one of the Negative cases someone ran for CX was based on Nietzsche and the concept of embracing all of life. It went further to say that morals are a creation of man and to say ones morals are better is to devalue life as a whole. It got me thinking and so I pulled up my favorite library and looked up his works. I know Nietzsche is not for everyone but for me his approach rings true.
"What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power in man, the will to power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome." Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist
I further discussed it with one of my favorite debaters while waiting for the next round and left inspired. I have found the next generation filled with thinkers like me. I am proud...everyone else should run in fear...
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." Friedrich Nietzsche, The Dawn
3 comments:
Glad to broaden your horizons my friend.
Laura - Welcome to Blogger! Good to see more evil geniouses coming up in the world...
"What are we doing tonight Brain?"
"The same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the world..."
Angel - True. I take that as a complement from a woman who maitains as many blogs and groups as you.
Tiff - LD=Loser Debate. And for the record, they aren't kids. They are just smaller evil geniouses...
For the record I am 21 with 6 years experience.
Also, allow me to quote Andrew Jackson, "It is a damn small mind that can't think of only one way to spell a word."
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