Date: Saturday, September 12th 2015

Participants (from 15 countries):

Host: Rick

Moderator: Rick

Teams

Panel PRO: Lala, Johny, Liili,

Panel CON: Dora, Tibi, Andris, Seif, Aziz, J, J.A.

Audience: Amy, Anibal, Parmida, Moni, Basil, Aakash, Pharida, Yassmine

Panel PRO:

Birds represent freedom and strength. If we could be a bird we would have the ability to go anywhere for free.
Since birds always fly in a flock, if we were a bird, we would never be alone.
Birds’ life is simpler than human life. They do not have to face the complications and mundane things that humans often have to endure daily.
As birds, we could easily track people.
As birds, we wouldn’t have to worry about studies, about finding the perfect wife or worrying about what a woman thinks.
As a bird, we wouldn’t have to worry about meeting a schedule at work.
A bird doesn’t have to worry about bringing food in the house, dealing with children, dealing with pets, dealing with neighbors and other citizens.
Birds can build their house wherever they want.
Is easier for a bird to find a partner than what it is for a human.
If birds are having issues with the place they nest, they can always just move to another tree. For a human, relocation is not as simple as that.
Birds do not have to worry about the impacts of their life style whereas humans have to deal with the consequences of their activities in the planet. As the most developed species, there is a certain responsibility towards the planet.
As for being eaten by humans, not all birds are victims. From the total number of species of birds that inhabit this planet, only a small percentage are been eaten by humans. Therefore, there are fewer chances to be eaten, if you were a free bird.
Birds never get lost; they always find the way home.
Birds have a care-free life; they don’t have to worry about anything.
Although human beings are the smartest species and thus have developed many different ways to communicate with each other, it doesn’t mean that a birds’ way to communicate is inferior. They just have a different way to communicate.
What have birds produced so far? There are many things that human beings cannot produce without birds. Some species of plants produce flowers and fruits only through the pollination and activities of some birds.

Panel CON:

Birds don’t know what they are looking for; they do not know what life is.
Birds’ life is boring.
Humans can make friends, birds cannot.
Humans live longer and they are in control of their own lives.
Birds can be eaten by humans, trapped in cages, sold away, be fed by humans to pets.
Humans have a bigger brain.
Humans do not have to be judged if they kill a bird.
Human beings can also fly all over the world, with the help of their technology.
Human beings have a much more effective way to communicate with each other.
Human Beings are able to express themselves emotionally, whereas animals do not demonstrate emotion.
Human beings can learn new languages and communicate with people from other countries and solve their differences.
Human beings can understand other human beings regarding to their culture, customs or social environment.
Human beings can socialize with other humans, have a social life, hang out with friends, visit places with them, think about problems and address whatever issues there are and collaborate with one another to come up with a solution, which can bring a big change to the world.
Human beings can foresee outcomes.
The number of things that human beings have produced is infinite whereas birds have not produced anything so far.
All birds struggle to find food, shelter and protect themselves from predators. Human beings do the same thing but human beings have come up with some useful tools that have improved their life style and ensured their survival thanks to the enhanced capacity of adapting to extreme and dangerous environments.
Human beings can build hospitals and take care of other needed human beings whereas there are no doctor birds.

Audience summary:

Parmida voted for team A
Anibal voted for team B

For this tie, the moderator was given the chance to vote, however, Rick decided to keep the draw due to effective arguments presented by both teams.

There was a bonus chat after the debate and the topic was:

· If you had only 24 hours to be in a country, what country would it be and what woud you do?

This will be posted in a separated blog.

Thanks everyone for participating. To listen to this debate, click in the links below:

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It is better to be a bird than a human. | September 12th 2015 | Recording File

For people who did not join the live discussion, feel free to contribute the ideas in the comment blanks below.