"Debate..." 'Bettejo Dux' (Vintage Bettejo)

Bettejo Dux has lived on the cosmic Garden
 Island of Kaua'i for over 40 years.

Bettejo is a regular opinion writer in the Garden Island news
 and is the author of the famed novella, "The Scam." 
 Her latest fiction"Children of extinction"
 is now  released and available on Amazon!

www.bettejodux.com

www.amazon.com

Bettejo at 84 years young taking time
 out of her busy day for one of many
scheduled book signings.

Debate

Bettejo at the Martin Luther King Jr.
festivities at Kukui Grove back in 2013

It's a term and a device we  seem to have forgotten. Today we argue. Call each other names.  Throw things.  Indulge in verbal fisticuffs. It's a knock- down- drag- out with the loser losing his reputation in the community and all the ships at sea.

It's crazy.

There's nothing more fun than a discussion. The discussion site in  The Garden Island News(TGI) Forum is a home-grown  free- for- all only a few brave 'souls'-I use the term loosely, please don't start a fight, yet-dare to imbibe. I love it. I'm an active participant. Been doing it for years. Still here. Some folks say I have the 'skin of an alligator'. I respond, "You've taken a shot at me with every weapon in your arsenal and missed with every shot."  There are those who could argue with me. Care to try?

No debate here, it spells Horse!

We have so many conflicting issues-I wish only to tap into Kaua'i and it's umpteen zillion problems-billionaire land holders vs peasants, like you and me-infrastructure,  traffic jams, tourist problems, dairies, GMOs, over- development, taxes, super ferries, jobless, homeless. EEEKKK.

So, what I'm suggesting: The Forum should declare, a once- a- week debate. For an example, the best voice anti-GMO--Gary Hooser , of course--vs the best voice pro. Topic: Are vast acres of GMO corn good for Kauai? Give each side five hundred words on the Forum, on the same day, and give it their best shot. Be brief. Be truthful. Be knowledgeable. Write and be read. And then a vote. From the people.

Everybody loves the Forum. It's the favorite page for many of us. I think a newspaper is the heart of the community. I think-once again I use the term loosely-the Forum is the soul.  Care to argue?

I love to argue. Lucky you. Lucky, because if there were no paper and ink you'd all go deaf and I'd wear out a soap box a week. I doubt anyone will disagree with that.

I think of the way we seem to do it:  people gather together, carry signs and protest. Protest is good. As American as Apple pie and mother. As Kauaian as a weekend family picnic on a sunny beach-which beats Apple pie and mother hands down. Care to argue?

You know what I picture-this would be a visual community center debate-someone who's smoked all his life and is dying from cancer- debating the issue, Is Smoking Good for Your Health, with a healthy robust non smoker. Would that be cheating? Anyone care to argue?

Another awful thing we do is haul in a bunch of high muckity- mucks to sit on a stage in an  auditorium and listen to us voice our opinions. Pro or con. Sometimes they even serve cookies and juice. Do they listen? Do they care? I don't think so. They sit upstage, these highfaluters, and nod off. Sometimes, as a speaker, you look up and think they're going to fall off their chairs. Or call a cop.

Care to argue? Five hundred words or less...

 Hana Hou, (Encore)  Shared From Facebook...