George Galloway at the Philosoph
Posted on November 7, 2006 - Filed Under College | 1 Comment
This is a shamefull admission on my part, coming as it does well into my second year of college, but tonight was my first time attending a meeting of the Philosophical Society, which is UCC’s debating society. It seems that this was one of the more lively ones…
The motion was that “this house believies US foreign policy is the greatest crime since World War II”. Proposing the motion was British MP George Galloway, and opposing it was film producer and former shinner Gerry Gregg. The debate degenerated into something of a farce, in no small part due to the two speakers’ tendency to launch ad hominem attacks on each other rather than discussing the motion as it was set out. This went on until an irate Galloway stormed out of the lecture theatre vowing to sue Gregg for libel and slander for Gregg’s suggestion that Galloway took money from Saddam Hussain. Apparently such histrionics are a party piece of Galloway’s (see Richard Waghorne’s interview on Disillusioned Lefty).
The speakers were not the only ones to disrupt procedings either. Some members of the audience, seemingly equally new to the Philosoph, interrupted Gregg on a few occassions, with the result that the chair (if that’s the correct term) felt it necessary to explain to the audience the concept of waiting one’s turn to speak. When Galloway left about half the audience left with him, either on moral grounds or because they felt proceedings were dragging on for too long.
Galloway’s an impressive orator, but he focused soley on America’s support for Israel and didn’t really deal with the motion as it was. Gregg was less impressive as a speaker, and he spoke for too long on too little. The best comments by far was those offered by the floor, with one glaring, incoherent exception. I was predisposed towards the opposition from the outset, but there were some good points made by proponents of the motion too (though none, or at least very few, argued for it as it stood; their general sentiment was that America could do much better). I would have liked to make some contribution, but I’m terrified of speaking in front of large audiences, and other people expressed my point of view far better than I could have myself.
All in all, an interesting evening warranting a return visit.
Comments
One Response to “George Galloway at the Philosoph”
Leave a Reply
damn you Boland! Beating me to the punch with your article on tinight!!ah I’ll probly do something up on it anyway but still… Can’t quite figure out why so many left,though I think a lot of them were ‘old left’ and as such were leaving on moral grounds…