F-bombs
It was a breakthrough. A game changer. The game was forever changed. We could no longer call it “debating” – such a word gave the impression of civilised discussion; respect for your opponent and for the issues at hand. A whole new word would have to be created for this, something much less civilised.
Indeed, many debates were held in order to determine whether this new breakthrough was, in actual fact, a debate. Nothing solid was determined. However, what can be said for this new development was that it certainly hurried things along. The great 2nd World Debate had been going on for years now, and despite what the optimists out there said, they were no closer to an agreement.
So that’s where this word comes in. Such a short word, such a simple sentiment. It came out of nowhere – at least seemingly; in hindsight many have speculated that there must have been a myriad of meetings, discussions and talks about whether it was necessary – whether it was humane.
Ethicality aside, however, most agree that something had to be done. This horrible Great Debate had gone on long enough, what was needed now was peace.
Disputes would never be the same again. Conversation would likely never be the same again. But it ended the conflict, and many lives were spared the brutal, endless hours of discussion and debating. The F-bomb was dropped sometime during the 4th year of debating, and after the resulting chaos had died down, everyone basically agreed to disagree.
All because of one word.
Fuck.