Comments by "joe public" (@joepublic3933) on "OxfordUnion" channel.

Great isn't it? The number of people who say "this isn't a debate- she's just reading notes!" They've obviously gone a long way these scholars.... not far enough though to understand that before having a debate, someone needs to say something to debate about! They must think a debate is just people shouting at each other at the same time. Then again, this is understandable, as it's what is often shown on TV, especially when it comes to politics!
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Well that was indeed an underwhelming comment. So, as far as you're concerned, it's ok to go to war and kill/be killed at 18, but not to make love? You can drive a car (potential killing machine), but not have sex? You can go out and earn money to support a family... but you can't have a family? Someone who is 15 is automatically raped by her boyfriend who's two days older?
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Interesting.... but I think there's a place for humour and irreverence pretty much anywhere. Take for example the Whitehouse correspondents dinner... In British parliament there's also a tradition of humour; a speech, whatever the subject (or mostly) can be enlivened and made more memorable by injecting a bit of humour. Natural human thing: in such places as parliament where people are in the middle of debates all day (or night) long, humour provides a welcome, even necessary break. Doesn't take away from the important stuff, but rather contributes. In this particular case, bringing comedy into such an environment serves also as a demonstration of how it could collapse as a system if the discipline is not respected. Comedy is nearly always useful and here is no exception. That was my opening speech....
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10:30 to 10:35 is very revealing on what separates the two sides...
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allana Question for you: is working in a coal mine empowering to men? I think you'll agree that no, it's not. It's dangerous, it will probably kill you, it will certainly wear your body out, it's just a job. Not a nice one, but a job. A job does not have to be empowering. You won't go putting it on display in the career exhibition hall either. Maybe "career choice" is an inappropriate term; "job choice" would be better: takes away the image of promoting prostitution in schools! You cannot cut off the demand, so the supply will also continue to exist; that's harsh reality. If you legalise, just like the alcohol industry for example, you can control it and divert police attention to other areas. Much of a moonshine problem in Europe or the States? You can only reduce trafficking by legalising and regulating.It's logical: in a legal brothel where a prostitute can take you to the police (or rather the bouncer, just like in a nightclub, he's the middle-man between offender and police, maintaining order and protecting the others) if you brutalise her, you'll think twice before being violent. Also, why not, I say that sex work can be and could be more skill orientated. It's our attitude towards it that makes it seem bad, but think about the Japanese geishas, for instance, for whom sexual practice was only a part of their social skills. They've always been highly respected and respectable... How about boxing? People destroying each other while crowds watch on. Isn't it good though that it's legal? Does it being "respectable" mean that young impressionable boys (or girls) will be drawn into it despite themselves, thinking it's easy money? Maybe some.... but they were sufficiently brainless to start with that a few more brain cells knocked out of them won't make much difference. Some will always be exploited of course, but they would've been if it was all underground anyway, but there'd be no medical support, no retirement, no handicap benefits etc etc.
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What's evil?
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@underwhelmingcomments7910 True, I don't know your stance on that. What about the rest though? You say they should wait until their twenties ideally, which I find ridiculous.That's why I gave a list, not just war. So what about the rest? As for the 15 and 16 year old, do you really think it goes from rape to making love in the space of two days? Morally I mean, not legally.There is no actual change in maturity in that time after all...
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@reviewreviewer1 It certainly was not ok! I don't know what he said about Oscar Wilde; I haven't seen that speech, so I can't comment on that, but I remember the Catholic church one. I very much agree with him on that.
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This is a university. The people there are students. One of the things they learn is how to conduct a civilised debate. Such debate is what all civilisation is (or should be ) based on. You've got to teach youngsters how to debate, how to express their opinions, how to listen and analyse those of others. So the outcome of this debate may have no significance in itself, but it's an exercise of great value. In debates such as this, both sides will give their presentation speech, and then pick apart the points of the opposition. This is just part of the opening speeches in the debate. Resource consuming? Why so, more than you or I? Privileged? You know, people can get to Oxford or Cambridge with scholarships, there are all sorts of aid possible.... many people get to these universities on merit alone. You shouldn't go making sweeping generalisations about what you think they must be.
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Wow.... so that's what a feminazi is! She completely ignores that male prostitution exists (so that's the gender equality argument out the window), that legalisation is not the same as decriminalisation (best to legalise for better control and security), that some do it by choice.... All that to support the Icelandic model of repression, restriction and censorship. Bravo. Keep it all underground, 100% black market, untraceable, mafia controlled: that's always worked in the past, hasn't it?
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@thatlady4189 Teenager: between thirteen and nineteen.
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Is that the only thing you have to comment on? So if she wasn't using paper, she'd be using what? A tablet, maybe? I suppose you imagine that a tablet involves less carbon than a bit of paper?
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Because it's 50 year old priests doing it with ten year old boys.
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Mainly.... but not entirely.
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Don't you know how most debates work? Both sides give their presentation speech, and the discussion comes afterwards.
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Sounds like a pretty nasty viewpoint to me.However, she did make one interesting point: will all these people still be into equality when they're earning twice as much as everyone else?
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I thought women dressed showing cleavage to please themselves, not men? I can't work out if you're a radical feminist or a misogynist! Funny how opposites come full circle, isn't it? Short? Ok....... ankle-length is more "seemly"? I wouldn't go as far as to say that she looks pornified: she's in evening dress, which in the Oxford environment is loaded in tradition. Look how the other women in the room are dressed, and you'll see a very wide variety, but they're definitely "dressed up", as are the men (in their strictly coded and highly restricted manner, as opposed to the large freedom accorded to the women, which for some reason gets completely ignored when blaming everything on the "patriarchy"). If you consider that she's dressed "as a hooker", I think you must have a bit of a problem with women (which sex are you, by the way?), or men, or both. Are you perhaps a Jehovah's Witness, or strict Catholic who always wears turtle-necks? We definitely haven't seen the same types of prostitutes in our respective closest towns !
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So explain to me how you debate if nobody says anything first to talk about?!
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"Anyone that engages in porn or prostitution supports rape and pedophilia".... oh really? Nothing I like more than a sweeping statement that considers that self-affirmation is equivalent to evidence.
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@manawahinekorero9534 I really don't get your logic, sorry. We're talking here about legalizing an industry to take it out of the shadows, to make it more secure for those who participate in it (who will do so whether it' legal or not). Exactly the same as drugs: Policing wasted on stopping weed growers instead of breaking up coke cartels. You keep all sex work illegal, and policing is wasted on picking up prostitutes instead of stopping child trafficking rings. Cases of young boys raping after watching porn? Like those kids that listened to Metallica and went on a killing spree? Please, one bad example should not dictate how a whole population should be restricted. Remember how well prohibition worked in the US? Some people really shouldn't drink, I think we'd all agree... but the rest of us? There are many types of porn out there, some of which is "bad", some of which is harmless, performed by consenting adults. Repression is not the answer to everything, and is probably the answer to nothing.
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@manawahinekorero9534 Ok you're listening to nothing forget it.
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@manawahinekorero9534 So what's your suggestion for protecting these women? That's why we're here, that's why we're debating, isn't it? The whole thing is about whether to legalise or not, to protect in at least some small way the women involved. Where do you get the idea that I support in any way rape of children? If you let prostitutes work in a safe environment off the streets than the police can concentrate their resources on the traffickers. What's the problem with that? You can't just invent a world where it doesn't happen, so what are your solutions? I've proposed legalising for closer surveillance and social rights, like in any legal work. I don't get why you assume I care more about conserving porn? I'm just saying get real, it won't go away by itself, so what do we do????
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@manawahinekorero9534 pathétique
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Well, if it's white privilege, how comes the speaker isn't white? How comes only three of the five up front are white?
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Depends where you are. In New Delhi you'd be hard pushed to call it blue...
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allana Not sure I get much of what you're saying...but it seems you're for legalisation too. :) I think a part of prostitution is probably playing therapist; or is that just a sort of "romantic" image of the prostitute nodding in compassion as the client sits on the edge of the bed and recounts his childhood? Maybe that would be a bigger part of the job if it didn't take place in the bushes in the park.... You know, I'll even go as far as to say that people use their bodies to entertain others in many ways, which can even be dangerous. Circus performers, for example. Could what we consider "sexual" be compared to using any other body parts in an extreme way? A juggler uses his hands, a Thai ping-pong show girl uses her vagina to juggle, a prostitute uses her vagina to massage penises. It's a bit gross when stated like that.... but really, in fact, what is the difference except that which our culture applies to it?
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That would require intelligence...
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