Having bad table manners makes you a less liked person.

Mr. LaCroix, another good tournament debate… Trust me when I say I would much rather go against you round 6 or maybe round 10… Nevertheless, when our names came up to go against each other, I wasn't going to be unfair and change it, so we must move forward… Good luck to what seems to be yet another good debate… I will disprove the following topic: TOPIC: Having bad table manners makes you a less liked person. I will disprove this with the following case and will continue through refutation of the PRO case… I. Bad manners can make you a better liked person or can have no effect. I am simply going to prove this point with the following sub-points of examples that shows HOW these "bad manners" can actually make you a more liked person. If you read the topic of debate, that this is the only thing that I have to prove, it does not make you a less liked person but in fact (sometimes) makes you a MORE liked person. A. Elbow's on the table. I'm sorry, but if I put my elbows on the table, no one at school will suddenly think of me any less. Josh Kappler, one of my good friends, was asked the question of, "If I put my elbows on the table, will it make me a less liked person?" He responded with, "No, because no one pays attention to it."… I mean seriously, elbows on the table is a table manner that if you try to enforce OTHERS to do the same, that YOU will be the less liked person, not the one "breaking" the table manner. B. Setting up the table right and proper use of utensils. As I covered school in my last speech, I will now bring up family. While at home, if I set up the table with the fork on the right and the knife on the left, no one will think any less of me. This is also true at nearly ALL locations of places to eat. In fact, if I were to ALWAYS follow the table manner of properly setting and properly using my 3 forks, THEN people will begin to think of me differently. Instead of being that laid back man at school and at home, I am now that uptight "appropriate" person that always makes the conversations awkward. You all know the person at school that always follows EVERY table manner known through the past thousand years; they are the people that are thought of less to the average high school student. C. Please and Thank You. Please and thank you is a nice idea. I always tell the lunch ladies thank you for my meal and they think better of me than other students. BUT most kids do NOT say thank you. They do not think of them less upon the student body… they're just another kid. Josh Kappler, once again, said that, "Please and thank you is not necessary." Therefore, the thinking less upon someone does not exist (because of lack of please and thank you) in the lunch room, or in the student body itself. It also goes to home, my mom loves me whether I say please and thank you or I don't… Sure, it makes you more liked if you do, but it does not make you less liked (as the topic of debate specifies). I reserve the right to add any more "table manners" to the debate and if my opponent would like to add to the list as well, by all means go ahead (but I'd prefer you do it in the next speech and not the last speech for obvious reasons) II. Table manners are a thing of the past. This argument is an increasing truth within our society. Table manners are a thing of the past. The weight of them is nearly completely gone and if you do not do any of above sub-points, ONLY in the past would you have been thought of less. As of the current age, you will NOT be thought of as a less liked person. Therefore, I urge a CON vote. Let's move to my opponent's last speech. To start off, your clarification seems to be quite acceptable; I at least did not see an attempt to be abusive so it sounds like a good way to view the round. Onto your arguments… Okay, off of your first paragraph, you talk about people walking by the table for the majority of the paragraph. I am simply going to quote YOU from your first speech… You said, "we are not talking about people that do not dine with the person in question"… So, if you say that we are NOT talking about non-diners, why do you argue non-diners will be disgusted? It goes against your own way to view this round. Onto your quote (which covers the second half of the first paragraph as well as the last paragraph)… You talked about first impressions. I have two arguments against this… 1) First impressions are often ENTIRELY wrong… Lemony Snicket wrote in his first book A Series of Unfortunate Events, "I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong…. Your initial opinion on just about anything may change over time." (http://home.mindspring.com...) This just proves that bad table manners will NOT lead to the final "opinion" of someone. There are more important assets to be included into an "opinion" of someone; bad table manners have hardly any effect whatsoever. 2) First impressions are not enough to prove that the people in question will be thought of any less with bad table manners. All that my opponent has proven is that first impressions COULD have a bad effect. But I, for one, do not weigh my opinion of people from first impressions. I usually allow a length of time to make final my "opinion" of them. Also, my opinion is not based on table manners. This goes back to my contention II argument. With the new age, people's opinions of people are based on other things besides "bad manners." Bad manners have few effects on people's opinions of others and are not always a bad effect. Therefore, you must vote CON. Thank You P.S.--> I truly wish we would have gone against each other later but trust me when I say the match ups were done as random as possible. I look forward to your next speech!