Playful debate is a directly rewarding activity that builds civic resources and energies.

Evidence

Both are right. The surveyors are right to be chagrined at the amazing depth of political ignorance, but the interviewers are also right to protest that the ignorance is not based on stupidity, and not inevitable. Buffaloes, for example, were not illogical, and were sometimes impressively able to memorize facts, and often eloquent when talking about private life. But they did not focus their intelligence on political reasoning and thus, when it came to formulating opinions for an interviewer, they had to start from scratch, without enough reference points or information on the horizon. Of course, memorizing lists of decontextual facts is boring and does take time away from more ”directly rewarding pursuits,” but citizenship is not just a matter of memorizing lists of facts. Engaging in playful debate could create ”resources and energies,” and could be ”directly rewarding,” and could make learning about politics interesting and fun. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1096

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Playful debate creates resources and energies’ resonates with the reader’s mutual-aid/solidarity theme — play and productive shared talk as solidarity mechanisms rather than enemy-focused ones.