Saito is a better role model than Kenshin.

Indeed, such a momentous debate should never be forgotten. That crap about science or religion has overstayed it's welcome. PRO starts off by saying that the series about Kenshin rather than Saito. He uses this to excuse the lack of depth to Saito's character. This is completely understandable, but doesn't excuse the faults that the character has even when looking past his lack of depth. CONT 1: 1) PRO argues that there is simply too many risk in trying to cripple your opponent rather than kill him/her. He points out that one may be able to argue that Kenshin would never make such miscalculations when concerning these risks, but that this debate is about role models. I couldn't agree more. The point I'm getting across isn't to say that all people can be precisely like Kenshin. What I'm getting at is that individuals should attempt to live their lives in favor of his ideals rather than Saito's. What I've posited in this debate is that if individuals in general were to adhere to Kenshin's values on the importance of life, that there would be far less instances of where one is placed into a situation where killing is means to resolve such a situation. The reason individuals back during the time period of Kenshin (and even Saito) were so quick to kill in attempt to resolve conflict is because this ideal is the only one they had ever known. I dare say that if Shishio, Jinei or any other big time Kenshin villain had been raised in our modern era, they most likely wouldn't be fulfilling their ambitions in a manner which results in the deaths of others. In our more modern era, although we still do end up resorting to manslaughter in attempt to resolve conflict, it is most certainly not in the approach or at the rate which Saito or others during his time period have taken up. On the contrary: Police officers put their life at stake every day, but their manor of dealing with criminals is almost always non lethal. The military is a different story (one I'll get to momentarily). WHY TO VOTE CON: No matter how one looks at it, Kenshin's non lethal ideals lessen the frequency of these crisis's (which we are discussing) by a great deal. Granted, our own modern views still have a ways to go as war is still a pretty ongoing means of settling differences with a different society, but the initial progression which we've already seen based around Kenshin's ideals is reason to believe that more adhering of this ideal could result in wars essentially being a thing of the past as well. 2) Considering the nature of the murders which Aoshi and Seijoro himself have been a part of, their own rehabilitation should still serve as evidence that Shishio could have been rehabilitated as well (which shows that it's not merely an assertion, contrary to what my opponent has claimed) in terms of what a parole board had thought. :D As for Shishio being shown in hell, we must refer back to my statements in the previous round. They were all based around the notion of Kenshin having been successful in besting Shishio, only to cripple him afterwards. Given that Shishio simply bursted in flames, the duel between him and Kenshin was inconclusive, hence why it makes plenty of sense that Shishio wasn't inclined to change his ways; he was never bested, thus never given reason to believe that he wasn't strong. If anything, he killed himself. As for Jinei, see my arguments concerning this issue of risk which PRO keeps mentioning. The cases of Aoshi and Soujiro were not at all different. Both had embraced evil ideals (no different than Shishio). Soujiro had Shishio as a role model for nearly his entire life. All it took was seeing Shishio's ideology proven false for him to amend his ways. Given the siimalarities between the master and apprentice, one could use this as evidence of my assertion that Shishio would have changed had he been bested by Kenshin. Kenshin's ability to "read souls" is superstitious nonsense at best. His methods were entirely psychological; he had known both Aoshi and Soujiro's philosophies in advance and got to the two to heavily question and doubt their ideals during battle and after actually defeating them. There is nothing strange about this. Being one who embraces psychology is definately worthwhile when it comes to being a role model. This allows one to utilize logic moreso than brute force when settling differences. 2) PRO doesn't explain how having superior mental strength is not a quality which one should take into consideration when considering your role model. Furthermore, I've explained why Kenshin's ideal is more logical all the way in round one. If individuals in general embrace Kenshin's ideals of Saitos, it lowers the rate of these crisis situations which Saito is engaged in and individuals conclude that blood shed should not be used to resolve conflict. A quick comparison of our modern society to the society during the era of Rurouni Kenshin is all the one needs to view this fact in clear detail. CONT 2 Being out of time, I will concede to PRO's position on Kenshin being unable to commit emotionally and shall simply focus on the fact that Kenshin's value of life is what makes his committment stronger than Saito's/ PRO is incorrect. Saito doesn't get flashbacks to emphazie his will to live not necesarrily because he isn't the hero of the story, but because his own words flat out confirm that his will to live is nearly non existent. Again, refer back to him claiming that he doesn't care if he loses his life provided Shishio dies. It is completely irrelevant that all of them are places their lives at stake. Though this is true, Kenshin comes out ahead in role model status because he values his life more whereas Saito doesn't think much of his own (or his "wife" for that matter) CONT 3 1) I agree with all of the facts that PRO presents, but his problem is still the same. Where is there any indication that Saito had this planned out all along? Although there were indeed benefits from his encounters, it is illogical to assume that there were only benefits because Saito intended for their to be benefits. Telling Kenshin that he needs to go to Kyoto wouldn't have worked, but there is nothing to suggest that Saito knew this. And, out of time. Thanks for the debate.