I didn't actually do debate, but instead a similar form of formal argumentation: Ethics Bowl. It's similar to set-topic arguments in parliamentary debate, except that a) it's all applied ethics problems and b) the exact proposition isn't known - you get a set of cases a few months in advance that describe various scenarios but no exact question regarding what moral conflict in the case they're going to ask you to debate on the day of competition. Cases are on everything from from nurses from developing countries leaving for higher wages in developed countries to a Deaf lesbian couple deliberately trying to conceive a deaf child to the County of Sacramento allowing developers to create housing in areas where levee failure is probable in the event of a 100-year flood - i.e. places you can't get flood insurance to all forms of copied text/work that may or may not be considered plagiarism
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I wish we'd've had that. I woulda done that in a heart beat, because it sounds pretty awesome. :D
I *used* to. I did it for eight years and the high school and college level, and that was enough for me lol. I competed in LD, parli-LD, parli, public forum/ted turner/controversy/whatever you knew it as, plus impromtu and another event I can't remember the name of.
The best round I ever had was one on whether terrorists should be treated as regular criminals or not, which was about two years ago now. I had written a research essay on the very subject a year before and had all of it - bibliography and all - on my laptop. We ended up on the same side I had written it for, too, which was the best thing EVER. I distinctly remember seeing my opponents' faces start sinking out of the corner of my eye when I rattled off a dozen supreme court cases in our favor and mentioned I had about ten pages of evidence if they wanted to see it. We owned the shit out of them, obvs. :D
Oh, the pwning memories are always the best. :D We had a few like that, typically when we'd guessed the question perfectly and the person whose case it was had a seven minute opening spiel for that question that hit everything that was pertinent in the case.
Finals at nationals my junior year was like that - I had an argument perfectly prepared for the question they asked - except that'd we'd been knocked out in the round before. :-( But at least the whole team had had a chance to hit the hotel bar before the final round, so it was easier to laugh as both sides floundered on the case
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I WANT THIS TRUCK. BRING THIS TRUCK TO ME.
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I almost wrote that we could make bacon cheeseburgers when I arrived, but then I remembered that all the good cheese would be back in California.
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I didn't actually do debate, but instead a similar form of formal argumentation: Ethics Bowl. It's similar to set-topic arguments in parliamentary debate, except that a) it's all applied ethics problems and b) the exact proposition isn't known - you get a set of cases a few months in advance that describe various scenarios but no exact question regarding what moral conflict in the case they're going to ask you to debate on the day of competition. Cases are on everything from from nurses from developing countries leaving for higher wages in developed countries to a Deaf lesbian couple deliberately trying to conceive a deaf child to the County of Sacramento allowing developers to create housing in areas where levee failure is probable in the event of a 100-year flood - i.e. places you can't get flood insurance to all forms of copied text/work that may or may not be considered plagiarism ( ... )
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I *used* to. I did it for eight years and the high school and college level, and that was enough for me lol. I competed in LD, parli-LD, parli, public forum/ted turner/controversy/whatever you knew it as, plus impromtu and another event I can't remember the name of.
The best round I ever had was one on whether terrorists should be treated as regular criminals or not, which was about two years ago now. I had written a research essay on the very subject a year before and had all of it - bibliography and all - on my laptop. We ended up on the same side I had written it for, too, which was the best thing EVER. I distinctly remember seeing my opponents' faces start sinking out of the corner of my eye when I rattled off a dozen supreme court cases in our favor and mentioned I had about ten pages of evidence if they wanted to see it. We owned the shit out of them, obvs. :D
Reply
Finals at nationals my junior year was like that - I had an argument perfectly prepared for the question they asked - except that'd we'd been knocked out in the round before. :-( But at least the whole team had had a chance to hit the hotel bar before the final round, so it was easier to laugh as both sides floundered on the case ( ... )
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