Informed Issues

Having attended the academic institutions I have, and because of the people I surround myself with, I have been exposed to debate after debate. Participating in some of these encounters has been much more enjoyable than others. And the reason that this has been the case is that some individuals are prepared for the debates, they are knowledgeable about the situation which they are discussing. For some reason a great many people I have been in debates with merely want to argue. They are genuinely passionate about the issues, but in general they are not as educated as they should be on issues that they care so much about. There is no reason for somebody to get into an argument without being able to support their side with substantial evidence.
I must admit that I have been guilty of not having educated responses to issues about which I am passionate. It is because of this that I am aware of the disparity between having a solid argument, grounded in fact, and one that is based solely upon an individual passion and ability to argue. to be honest, it is really easy to feel good about oneself when in a debate with another person who knows nothing about the issue, and is truly arguing for the sake of arguing. However, I have never truly enjoyed finding myself in such situations. Whenever finding myself in these encounters, I find that I do not feel good about myself and being able to make my argument. Rather, I get frustrated and angry that I am in a debate with somebody who does not feel that our discussion warrants them putting time and effort into something about which they claim to be passionate.
If people truly care about the topics that they debate, then they should have no issue researching the issues. In doing this they are able to not come off as ridiculous, uninformed, unintelligible individuals. It is not hard to place oneself in a position of being informed and able to carry on intelligible debates. Read online, read books and the newspaper, do your research. That is all that must be done; people merely need to prepare themselves on issues about which they are passionate.