Part of what this essay is doing is trying to argue with the connotations between tapping out and losing. Yeah, if someone taps out in a formal debate they lose the point. (Points? I haven’t done competitive debate, I don’t know how they’re scored.) From the perspective of someone who’s done a lot of martial arts, it’s really useful to be able to just practice without shame or loss of status attached to tapping out.
Part of what this essay is doing is trying to argue with the connotations between tapping out and losing. Yeah, if someone taps out in a formal debate they lose the point. (Points? I haven’t done competitive debate, I don’t know how they’re scored.) From the perspective of someone who’s done a lot of martial arts, it’s really useful to be able to just practice without shame or loss of status attached to tapping out.