Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

I was in the BofA scholarship regional finals, which is (or at least was, back then) a debate-style panel with the other dozen or so contestants. We were given a question to debate, and when I saw it, I knew right away that most of the others would be arguing for a particular point that I happened also to believe in. I made a conscious decision to argue the other side, even though I didn't believe in what I was arguing for. The debate ended up being everyone versus me, and since I held my own, I stood out and thus emerged the winner. That's the only time in my life that I have done that... it felt really risky, but I'm guessing that's what politicians do all the time.

I did the same thing in debate. I grew up in a very homogeneous area, and there was always a side that no one really wanted to take up. I took pride in being able to debate positions I didn't believe, because it was then raw debate with personal feelings off the table. Some people debate very emotionally and I've never seen that work (except for maybe my wife).

I won most of my debates (then, not now), and a few people would come up and tell me how I changed their opinions. That felt kind of terrible. I told them I didn't actually like the side I debated, but I'm not sure that mattered.

As you said, it's given me a distaste for lawyers and politicians and the desire to never be one.