Why are they good? Well, they’ve all got at least one of the following qualities:
Repetitive – As Jason said, the more you repeat, the more you remember.
Easy to understand – If you can hear the lyrics (song words) easily, you’ll pick them up quicker and learn quicker.
Great storytelling – So much of speaking a language is about being able to tell a story. I’ve chosen some of these bands for their great storytelling.
A link to culture and humour – Music, culture and humour (sense of comedy) are closely connected to language.
Good use of idiomatic language – Idiomatic language (phrases, phrasal verbs, idioms, proverbs, etc.) are a key part of learning a language.
Powerful “earworms” – This is a new word in English, borrowe from the Germans. It means that the song will stay in your head for a long time. If it stays in your head, you’re repeating it and learning faster!
Nowadays, most cartoons look something like this...
Which is a far cry from the Golden Age of animation where short cartoons, shown before movies, were hand drawn and hand painted by an army of animators, background illustrators, musical composers, voice artists, and gagmen writers. Planning and execution of these cartoons were meticulous and a six or seven minute cartoon required thousands of drawing to complete (typically when the action was slow 6 drawings per second was needed, and when fast 12 drawings per second)
The original Looney Tunes, created by Warner Brothers Animation Studio, numbered 1,002 shorts and ran from 1930 to 1969. Then came the budget cutbacks. The Studio created dozens of memorable characters including
Bugs Bunny,
Tweety,
Tasmanian Devil,
Daffy Duck,
Porky Pig,
Marvin the Martian,
Elmer Fudd,
Pepe Le Pew,
Sylvester,
Speedy Gonzales,
Foghorn Leghorn,
Yosemite Sam,
Bugsy
Michigan J. Frog
Additional Characters: Bosko, Granny, Penelope Pussycat, Wile E. Coyote, Slowpoke Rodriguez, Miss Prissy, Barnyard Dawg, NAsty Canasta, Witch Hazel, Hector the Bulldog, Petunia Pig, Road Runner, Dr Henry Jekyll, Melissa Duck, Charlie Dog, Pete Puma, Sylvester Jr, Beans, Claude Cat, Shropshire Slasher, Cecil Turtle, Big Bad Wolf, Paul Bunyan, Beaky Buzzard, Henery Hawk, Nero, Blacque Jacque Shellacque, Little Red Riding Hood, Clyde Bunny, Hatta Mari, Ralph Phillips, Giovanni Jones, Cool Cat, Adolf Hitler, Neon Noodle, Hugo the Abominable Snowman, Buddy, Gabby Goat, Colonel Shuffle
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Wile E. Coyote would serve as a good subject for an analytical essay, school of philosophy or even Doctoral Thesis...
British (Cockney, RP, Upper Class), Australian, New Zealand, Indian, German, French,
Russian, and others.
Impressions: Trump, Bernie Sanders, George W. Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Nixon, Walken, Pacino, Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Rodney Dangerfield, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Bob Dylan, Winston Churchill, WC Fields, and others.
And here's a clip demonstrating dueling impressions:
TIP: Change your facial expression and body language.
A little background... So I ran for Mayor of my hometown, Redondo Beach, back in 2013...
There were also some serious moments...
Nevertheless I lost, yet won 1,275 votes, 10.3% of the electorate. My friend Quinones, who helped out on the campaign remarked, "You know they've done tests and typically anyone who's running gets 10% of the electorate, I mean even if Satan is running, he'd get 10%
I shot back, "Yeah, but not 10.3%!"
I can't necessarily say that I wasn't a sore loser...
But that's not what we're talking about today... we're talking about THE ART OF DEBATE
First off, let's make it clear what we're not doing....
Or even this...
Unfortunately this is what now often passes for debate.... or this....
However, a long time ago the Romans had it figured out... here's from Reddit-
The Catiline Orations, by Marcus Tullius Cicero, are perhaps one of the earliest examples of great rhetoric being used in politics. It's not a debate as such, because it's mostly Cicero outlining his case that Catilina was planning to overthrow the Roman Republic. And the points he made were debated in the senate.
Topically, Catilina was seen as a populist, representing the poor and disenfranchised Romans, while Cicero was very much a man of the establishment.
Yet back then they had rules for debate, a barrier one shall not cross, they are called LOGICAL FALLACIES-
An impressive analysis of typical logical fallacies found in the Trump era can be found here-
Since then debates have evolved or perhaps devolved... Regardless, here are some notable exceptions in the ART OF ARGUMENT- POLITICAL DEBATES LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE - 1858 The Abraham Lincoln - Stephen Douglas debates are definitely worth looking up. Really set a clear format for public political debates we still use today. Also known for bringing a little known lawyer from Illinois to national attention. Among the topics debated was the issue of slavery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln-Douglas_debates KENNEDY vs. NIXON DEBATE - 1960
This was the first televised debate. Oddly enough, people listening on radio thought Nixon won the debate, while people watching on television thought Kennedy won the debate. Kennedy went on to be gunned down in the street like a rabid dog, compliments of the CIA.
But I digress... It's not always politicians that go head to head. There have also been some remarkably civil and thought-provoking debates by notable writers and thinkers...
Buckley, obviously defeated and on the ropes, finally lost it in another debate with Chomsky....
Flash forward- I don't know that things have gotten any more civil but it certainly seems they've gotten more pointed and determined... take the recent MUNK POLITICAL CORRECTNESS DEBATE....
For those pressed for time, here are the highlights....
So how does Peterson do it?
Know full well that people's minds are typically not changed in any given moment... rather, ideas are like a virus...
Get to know forms of debate dating back to the Romans...
Then again, what have the Romans ever done for us....
Today emotion often wins where the Roman's would have argued that logic ought to prevail...
This was later proven to be a hoax perpetrated by the daughter of a Kuwaiti diplomat as a pretext to invade Iraq back in 1991... Sadly, it doesn't end there....
Crocodile tears. As Voltaire said, "if you can get the people to believe absurdities, they will commit atrocities."
On the other hand, I have read that a good argument is typically 20% to 30% emotion, 60% to 70% logic, and 10% credibility. I think that holds up.
One other thing, these are always smart things to throw into a debate:
Shocking Statistic
Ask a question of the audience
Tell a personal story, annecdote
use Similies and Metaphors
Use Humor
Give a shit
Let's practice lateral thinking and being devil's advocate-
For example what is your opinion on GMO foods or population control?
Great. Now today's topic is Gun Control or the Prohibiting of Smoking in Public... Decision time....
Lastly, here are some examples from my past life, in chronological order...
Then onto District 3 City Council debates (Canidate's Forum) circa 2015...
And then there was 2017. coming in 3rd in a 5 way race... funny how (despite advice from friends) the less serious I got, the better I did... something about being true to yourself, I guess....
FULL VERSION OF 2nd DEBATE
SNIPPET
FOOTNOTE: Here's a DOCUMENTARY about my first run for office (which initially was the purpose for doing so)...
Thanks
Didn't mean for that to be a lesson in egotism
Was instead just trying to show that if I can do it
So can you!
Afterall...
I ain't that special
well...
maybe a little retarded...
I'm not saying nothing... I'm just saying I know a tad about debates...
