Michael Knowles’ recent Bar Fight

I just finished watching the Michael Knowles Bar Fight video on YouTube.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I do rather recommend it.  There is lively participation from the other bar-goers, sound name-calling from the opposition (like every good bar fight has), and, of course, that one weirdo who somehow received the center stage for a brief moment.  I never thought a bar fight would be where I find Knowles.  But yet again, I was not really surprised either when I saw it publish.  Such theatrics are becoming more and more popular; and, rather than indicate a return of carousing and name-calling, actually herald a global return to the vicious and ultimate human sport of debate.

I will be honest: a Nashville bar would not have been one of the first places I would have looked for a publicized intellectual debate.  Don’t get me wrong: a beloved friend and former Squad Leader and I have frequented many bars in several states, wherein the beers flowed as freely as our bandied positions went back and forth.  We’ve even made our own bar from time to time in the comfort of our own homes.  And, in this, we are not alone: alcohol, friendships, and deeply personal (dare I say spiritual) conversations often go hand in hand.  There is nothing like the moderate shared drink to establish some comraderie and loosen the tongue just a bit.  So, though I found myself surprised at finding Knowles featured in a Nashville bar, the simple fact that there was a discussion happening and being videoed in a bar was not that surprising.

The debate itself did not surprise me in the bar.  What did surprise me however was the public nature of the debate, the ground rules surrounding it, and public figures participating.  It was a formal affair, complete with microphones, voting, and some level of moderation.  Now, that is not to say it did not devolve into insults, weird topics, and even weirder audience participation: it just wouldn’t have been a bar fight without all the rest.  No, it was an honest to goodness fight, just not with fists.  It was a fight of ideas and words.  And the audience loved it.

The most surprising thing about the whole affair was how into it the audience got.  They bought it, hook line, and sinker.  And, judging by the decibel levels from the crowd, Knowles wasn’t even unanimously agreed with - even though Nashville is his own turf.  Some of the other ideas were looked favorably upon by the cheering (and booing) audience as well.  And even though there was a clear loser in the fight, even his ideas were met with interest from some parties.  All this to say: the public exchange of ideas was enthralling enough in a bar to merit active participation and to avoid calls to turn the TV back on.

The sport of public debate is back.  It has been on the rise for quite some time.  The world simply is not capable of operating under the radical subjectivity we have been subjected to in the past decades.  People are increasingly interested in watching Knowles debate, taking classes from the Crucible and Andrew Wilson, seeing Charlie Kirk (requiat in pace) collide with college campus, and so many more.  We are seeing the return of something commonplace in the great societies of history.  The sport of debate is becoming commonplace once again.  We find it in our everyday lives; let us hope we will soon see it return in good faith to the highest levels of leadership in both public, private, and spiritual lives.