Last night the Munk Debates hosted a debate with the resolved statement “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
Speaking in favor of the motion was Douglas Murray and Natasha Hausdorff, while those opposed were Gideon Levy and Mehdi Hasan, who had a show on MSNBC until last year.
Prior to his fame as a leftist pundit, Hasan, in 2009 compared non-Muslims to animals and linked gays to pedophilia - among other comments that would render a conservative or Christian permanently unemployable. But of more note, in 2023 Hasan published a book titled “Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking.”
Following his own advice didn’t seem to help much.
Before the debate, 61% agreed with the resolved statement and 39% disagreed.
Of note, debates like this aren’t determined by which side gets a larger share of the vote, but which moves the vote the most. So hypothetically, if someone increased their share of the audience agreeing with them from 10% to 20% while the opposing side saw their share decline from 90% to 80%, the former would win despite the latter taking in a majority of the vote.
After the debate, 66% agreed with the revolved statement, while 34%, for a 5% swing in Murray and Hausdorff’s favor. Hasan sat in silence as the results were read, and gave a half-assed clap while looking visibly disappointed:
Maybe Hasan’s book will help some people never lose an argument - but it didn’t help him much.
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