New member of the community - hello! glad to be here.

[John_James]

@The Texas Trigger

I am embarrassed JJ had to correct my writing style on my first post (especially since I am a writer. I think I was just giddy and rushed. My apologies!

Totally understandable.

Anyway, I have been blogging for awhile so I am pretty familiar with the thread mechanisms and layouts used here. Thanks.

You have a blog hosted here? Which one??

As for my writing, I would prefer to stay anonymous on this forum. It is not that I am a famous writer…far, far, far, from it, however, sometimes I still have to ask economics questions I feel embarrassed to be asking, and any work I could post could easily be googled with my name in plain view. So it is for reputational purposes that I prefer to stay anonymous.

Definitely understandable. However, you may still reach out to the institute about getting some stuff published. There’s no reason anything put out on the Mises Daily or elsewhere would have to be linked to your forum handle here. This stuff got you full scholarships, and is being used as revisionist argumentation in universities? Why deprive us!

I would, however, like to have DiLorenzo read my work, as he is one of my heroes. That said, is there anyway you could direct me on how to have this achieved? One place I live in is Nashville, which I know Bob Murphy lives in as well. I have tried, on several occasions, to reach out to him via email. Unfortunately, he has never replied back. He and Tom Woods are some of the best verbal apologists the austrians have, and I would love to meet them and learn their speaking style. They are so funny.

If you can ever make it out to a Mises event, they usually are available for chatting. Murphy in fact always tries to gather as many people as possible to get out to a local karaoke.

It’s funny you should bring them up, because all three of those guys were present at the Mises Circle in your home town a few months ago.

It’s weird that Murphy hasn’t replied to you. He’s pretty reliable in that department. I don’t think I’ve ever not gotten a response from him. Are you sure you’ve got the right email address?

Speaking of which, one thing I want to gain from being a member of this forum is to gain better skill at verbal debate.

Hehe. Not quite sure how you plan to do that, but we’re here for ya

I feel DiLorenzo has a similar problem. Not that he can’t recall information, but the he (and Doug French) are very boring speakers to listen to, in my opinion.

Hehehehe. Same here. I know exactly what you mean. Public speaking just ain’t their thing. There was actually a thread about who are the best rhetoricians a while back.

It seems to me that great oral debaters have both a vast knowledge of the topic, as well as the ability to quickly access and organize that knowledge into not only coherent thoughts, but also strong rebuttals. I can do neither well. I feel written debate is easy if you command the pen well, and have the patience to go out and do thorough research. You have time on your side. When I don’t have that time, I choke and can’t remember info, or my thoughts don’t come out of my mouth the way they went through my head. So, does anyone have any links to resources that helps one to sharpen these skills?

Peter Schiff is one of the best I’ve seen at this. Here’s a collection of news segments (full segments, not the remixes). He’s spoken multiple times about how he doesn’t use notes during speeches and debates because he just doesn’t need them. The arguments come naturally. (Jeff Tucker describes what it’s like being in his audience.) Schiff says he’s able to do this because he’s been doing it basically his whole life. Even in elementary school he found himself arguing with teachers at times. So of course when he attended UC Berkeley, he spent a great deal of time debating leftist students and professors alike.

I think this is one skill you can only “learn” so much about. It really requires practice. You just have to get in there. Put yourself in some conversations with people…surround yourself with individuals who are interested in talking about this kind of stuff and just do it. It’s just like your writing. It improves because you spend enough time doing it.

That’s really the best advice I think.

You might see if there’s any sort of debate club, or some amateur debate league or something like that that you could join if you’re really that interested. It could be quite useful to have a scheduled time for meeting and arguing on a regular basis. It would also help because it would offer the opportunity to see how arguments are formulated and you can break down topics and learn to organize your points in an effecive way…which could then be developed into a habit that would translate to your normal conversations.