r/Debate

I am a rising 8th grader and have been participating in CTMSDL(local Connecticut middle schooler debates). They conduct the debates in parliamentary style. My parents have enrolled me to NSD Public Forum camp stating that it is going to help. However, I am trying to understand where and when I will be using a different style of debates. I see there are so many diff style of debates- what is the advantage of knowing these styles. What tournaments they cater to?

Specifically thinking of student congress but for any of them really. I've always liked the:

Aff/Neg is a lot like a Texas bullhorn, a point here, a point there and a whole lot of bull in between.

Also

Putin is a man of peace: a piece of Ukraine, a piece of Crimea, it’s become very clear that Putin likes piece.’

1. What do try or die? Should I be running it as well (in PF)? I keep hearing people saying it when talking about nuclear war.
2. What is first strike and how is it different?

I am planning on using this speech in a speech and debate tournament, specifically as an original oratory.

I have felt, as a very young adult, that lately the world and the people I am surrounded by lack any awareness or empathy for the world issues surrounding us. I feel as though the fact that social media presents world tragedies while simultaneously feeding entertaining, funny, or relatable videos has caused individuals to become desensitized to what is going on around them. When someone I know is scrolling on TikTok, they could see a video of a child in war, begging for dead family members to come back, and scroll right past it to instead watch a video about the latest trending song, or new show. While I understand that in a way, that's just the way the internet is, I feel as though being fed entertaining, engagement videos while also hearing about violence, death, war, and horrific things that plague our world, has caused us as humans to be desensitized to the worlds issues. When we hear that another bombing has occurred, more frequent and worse heatwaves are taking the world by storm, we find it easy to simply brush it off and instead worry about when the next episode of our favorite series will come out. While I understand that the worlds issues aren't everyone else's problem, it hurts me as a young person to see how happy everyone else is to be ignorant. We find it simpler to ignore than to face what's going on. If it doesn't affect us, it's not our issue. And so on and so forth. We repeat these phrases in comfort, but in reality, these issues are much closer to us than we like to admit. While I understand that the average person can't just stop a war or end world hunger, I feel as though being aware of the situation is better than ignoring it. Having these difficult conversations, making other people aware or these issues, and trying to make an impact in ways that you CAN do, is something I believe our world needs.

However, when I have brought this up with others, people think I am asking them to give up their life savings for starving children, or go out into the world and try to end a war all on their own. It seems as though a little empathy or awareness is too much to ask from them, and that is why I am now here.

I hope that in writing and presenting my speech, I am able to provide a fresh perspective on things to some people. I want this speech to focus on what I was talking about, like how seeing war being documented alongside funny, relatable videos has desensitized us on the significance of the events and tragedies we consume through media. In crafting this speech, I would really like some help.

I want to use famous short stories, poems, articles, art, really any piece of relevant and credible media to help convey this message of awareness. I want help on crafting what message I am trying to convey to the audience through these media references.

One example of such anecdote or piece of media I can use is the song "Pearls" by Sade, and my experience with it. I recently saw a girl posting her trip to the beach with this song in the background. I was utterly confused, as, although art can be interpreted in many ways, I had thought this song explored famine, war, violence, and motherly love. Hearing the line,"There is a woman in Somalia, scraping for pearls on the roadside..."-a line clearly talking about the famine in Somalia-while seeing a girl's lavish trip to Hawaii, threw me off. While I'm sure the girl posting her trip meant no harm, I think that striking contrast brought me to this topic for my speech.

In a similar way to that song, I want to include other pieces of media as evidence to this desensitization I was speaking of. If there are any pieces of advice anyone would like to give in terms of writing this speech, or any pieces of media that stick out in your mind for this piece, I would love any suggestions. This is my first time posting on Reddit so sorry for the length of this! All suggestions are welcome but please keep in mind I am fairly young so keep the criticism constructive. Thank you!!!

Can i use a fanfic as a script for a DI, I asked my coach about it and she said that it has to be published but I'm not sure what constitutes something as published or not, the specific script I want to do is Diary of a Time looper by Deake its a mlp fanfic

This is going to be my 2nd year in s&d, and in febuary i started LD debate. and i want to find ways to get better at it, because i feel like it takes me till the topics almost over to fully understand it, along with understanding my case fully. i’m not sure how to ask the right questions, and my rebuttals don’t seem very strong. and i tend to not realize when im bring up new arguments in voters. i’d like some tips to improve.

I do parli for context.

Traditionally, I’ve flowed on computer and been able to copy + paste whatever’s needed down to the bottom of my flow page and just typed in my notes to read the PMR/LOR.

I’m transitioning to paper flow, and I was wondering, do most people give rebuttal speeches off their flows or write notes on a new sheet?

Digan cosas más gey que el fútbol (aclaro que no digo que ser gey sea malo solo tomenlo como un debate pndj hecho por un pndj)

Porque haber estamos hablando que mayormente hombres pagan cantidades obscenas de dinero para ver a 22 hombres en forma detrás de una pelota durante 90 minutos, en esos 90 minutos esos hombres se tocan de formas muy cercanas y chocan sus cuerpos sudorosos y fuertes contra el otro y como si eso no fuera poco todo el estadio y jugadores celebran cuando un jugador mete una pelota en un huevo cuadrado y esas celebraciones van desde abrazos hasta besarse (porque si hubo un caso) es decir que esos hombres sudorosos celebran abrazándose y hay gente que paga por verlos

Algo mas gey que eso?

Hi all, 

We’re the Executive Board of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, or APDA. APDA is the most prominent college debate format in the Northeast. It is a 2 v 2 style that can be a relatively lower time commitment, while still being technical like high school debate. Resolutions change every round, and when you are affirmative/government, you get to introduce the topic. At the same tournament, you can debate topics as wide ranging as the ethics of aiding insurgent groups to whether Vogue should have featured Harry Styles in a dress. If you are a graduating senior attending any of the schools below, there is an APDA team you can join and you can reach out to your school’s representative here. If you go to any other school, we can help you set up an APDA club. If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to check out our website or comment any questions below. There will be an online free summer tournament using preset topics, or motions, which is open to rising freshmen of any experience level if you’d like to try it out in your free time. The tournament will take place during July 11th and 12th and you can register here by Monday, July 6th. You can also find more information about the tournament at this Facebook link.

1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Dartmouth
4. Brown
5. University of Pennsylvania 
6. Columbia
7. Princeton
8. Stanford
9. University of Chicago
10. Amherst College
11. American University
12. Bates College
13. Babson College
14. Boston College
15. Boston University
16. Brandeis University
17. Binghamton University
18. Carnegie Mellon University
19. CUNY
20. Drexel 
21. University of Delaware
22. Fordham
23. George Washington
24. Georgetown University
25. Hamilton College
26. Haverford College
27. Johns Hopkins
28. Lehigh University
29. MIT
30. Northeastern University
31. NYU
32. Rutgers University
33. Smith College
34. Stony Brook University
35. Swarthmore College
36. Temple University
37. Tufts University
38. UMass Amherst
39. University of Maryland
40. University of Pittsburgh
41. University of Virginia
42. Washington University in St. Louis
43. Wellesley College
44. Wesleyan
45. William & Mary College
46. Williams College

Hey everyone, I'm thinking about joining my college's debating society, but I really want to be ready for the audition. I've got a bit of debate experience from school, but I don't feel like I'm good enough for college-level debating. I've noticed a few things I need to work on:

* My vocabulary isn't very strong.

* I struggle with speaking English fluently (since I'm from India, it's not my first language).

* Sometimes I really grasp for topics or ideas.

Could you guys share any advice, books, or articles that helped you out?

(ld)

how do you rebut the aff if you read a pic? cause like, the aff's advocacy is basically your advocacy, so you can't say that it doesn't work or something because then you're saying you also do nothing. but like you can't just not respond to the aff. like do you just rebut case like normal and choose what to go for in the 2nr? doesnt that basically just mean that the neg is also advocating for a bad plan? what does going for the pic in the 2nr look like?

Hello! I need advice to start a speech & debate club at my school. I don't really know specifically what steps to take, how to apply for competitions, how to prepare a team, etc. So any advice would be very helpful! I am currently still researching everything about debate, such as how competitions work and how to build skills. I have never really been in an official debate comp, so any advice for competitions would be awesome :)

Topics as follows:

Septober -

• Resolved: Outer space colonization is a moral imperative.
• Resolved: Keeping wild animals in zoos is immoral.

Nocember -

• Resolved: De-extinction is unethical.
• Resolved: The United States ought to vest ecosystems with legal rights.

Jebruary -

• Resolved: The use of artificial intelligence for offensive military operations is immoral.
• Resolved: The United States ought to substantially increase subsidies for renewable energy.

Mapril

• Resolved: The United States ought to provide a universal basic income.
• Resolved: In a democracy, a candidate for public office’s right to privacy ought to be valued above the public’s right to know.

What are your predictions for what wins?

Hi, we’re Josh and Ryan from Christopher Columbus and Vancouver. This next year we’re looking to coach 2-3 teams in the novice to JV level. 

This past year we’ve:

• Gotten 12 bids to the TOC
• Reached deep elims at Carrolton, DS1, DS2, and Milo
• Bid at Opener, Nova, ASU, Emory, Columbia, and Harvard
• Invited to the Blue Key RR
• T-10 Speaks at DS1 and Peach State

As competitors, we’re comfortable with most forms of debate, but over this past year we’ve been most successful on the K, lay, and flay subs. 

Rates are flexible, if you’re interested reach out to us either on discord at ryang1___ and jzhou2009 or on insta at ryan_gell21 and joshua.zhhou

Hi everybody, I am a former WSDC Coach who led the team to a top five team break at a WSDC. As a debater, I have won 10+ international events and been ranked one of Asia’s Top Ten Speakers multiple times across majors. I also hold judge breaks at WSDC and several other majors.

These days, I teach a European school club
online (pro-bono) and multiple of my mentees now represent their national team.

Ask me anything. Happy to answer all questions.

hey all, I am a varsity LD debater who lives in Colorado. I initially decided to sign up for NSD Texas because it was much closer to Colorado and flights are cheaper, but now after seeing the reviews online, it seems that it’s worse than the Philly camp. was Texas LD a bad decision? it’s too late to change either way, but I just feel guilty that I didn’t do a bit more research.