Provocative arguments

An amusing argument fully fitting of a college bull session: Why conservatives give better commencement speeches than liberals by Carlos Lozada.

Lozada has read two anthologies of commencement speeches (a journalist taking one for the team) which sum to 48 speeches. His observations.

Conservative speeches are shorter.

Conservatives give more actionable advice.

Conservatives tell better stories.

Conservatives are less likely to suck up to you.

I think n=48 is an insufficient population base from which to draw any conclusions. I think, from anecdotal experience, that the broader conclusion might be "Commencement speeches are a good reason to be glad you are done with college." Or "Commencement speeches: a sustained exercise in cliches, heuristics, and tropes."

Lozada's claim is not based on sufficient data to support his argument but it is sufficiently provocative to mull on.