Controversial Conversations Club, first meet-up.

Come along to our first Controversial Conversations Club meet-up and let’s dive into some controversial topics! As this is our first meet-up, we’ll go around the group and see what topics everyone would most like to discuss.

🏠 House Rules:
Just a few simple rules to keep the conversations flowing smoothly and make sure everyone gets a fair chance to have their say:

🗣️Don’t hog the conversation.
If someone is speaking, let them finish before jumping in. No constantly interrupting, talking over people or dominating the discussion.

🕰️Be mindful of the time you speak, If you’ve been speaking for more than a couple of minutes without giving anyone else a chance to respond, I’ll politely remind you to wrap up and let someone else in. No blabbering on for 5 minutes straight!

I genuinely want everyone to have a chance to speak, so this isn’t just a suggestion, it’s part of the club etiquette. If you repeatedly interrupt, dominate conversations or ignore reminders to give others a chance to speak, you will be asked to leave.

🔥 Debate the idea, not the person.
You’re absolutely free to share your honest opinions and feelings, critique and critacise ideas, religion, laws etc- that’s what the club is about, after all! You can completely disagree with someone, but direct personal attacks to other people in the group, name-calling, shouting people down or bully tactics won’t be tolerated.

😡No emotional manipulaters. For instance, If someone has coherently and calmly explained their view on why they find the religion of Islam oppressive and someone else attacks them by saying “I find that offensive and you are a bigoted, nasty mean racist for thinking that way” you’ll be asked to leave for being a moron but also for being a manipulative bully who tried to label anyone for sharing an opinion you don’t like. This is a tactic i’ve noticed people use to try and guilt-trip others for holding different views when they don’t have an intelligent response.

We want strong opinions, articulate speakers and respectful interactions. Explain why you disagree, challenge ideas and have a proper conversation about it.

And finally…

🍺Pls be mindful of your drinking, enjoy a drink or 2 by all means if it helps you relax, but realise this isn’t a the place to get sloshed, you very much need all your wits about you for the topics we will be discussing!

Come with an open mind, a willingness to challenge your own thinking, and something interesting to say.

Let’s see where the conversation takes us!