This is now the 3rd weekend in a row I’ve spent representing JMSB @ competitions! Crazy. I was hoping to attend this latest competition as a spectator but ended up being a competitor. I think I might now officially be a debate geek: I will propose three arguments as to why I am and I will raise 3 counter-arguments / rebuttals as to why I’m not, in order to make myself feel like less of a loser… Dammit. Too late.
I think it went pretty well. We went up against: Bishop’s, HH/Yale (thaaat’s right), Queen’s, Carleton, Dalhousie and finally U of Ottawa. Some fun stuff from the debates:
Bishop’s: Their team was the gov’t proposing that economic Tsunami relief aid should be stopped. A point brought up was: “Nature has a way of cleaning things up. These countries will be better off with lesser populations.” I stood up and said: “Let me get this straight. What you’re saying then, is that death and destruction are a good thing? 
” I must admit, it was a little distracting debating against 2 very good looking girls! There were only about 4 at the event.
Yale: Not bad. They were the opposition in this case and held their ground pretty well. I was expecting to get killed seeing as how they both had over 7-8 years debating experience. Apparently the guy was in the “World Debate” semi-final? I wasn’t that impressed; which makes you wonder: Who WAS in the “World Debate”?!
Queen’s: We were the gov’t proposing a subsidized after-school supper&study program. Dan and I knew we had this one when the guy’s key rebuttal was: “This is just stupid.” Riiight. Good point. Oh wait, the second argument was: “It’s dumb.”. Apparently this guy ran against Ed Broadbent in local politics back in the day? Again…why couldn’t these people completely destroy 2 rookies!?
Carleton: This was by far the most entertaining debate we had. These 2 guys were both awesome speakers. They were the gov’t proposing that we remove the voting age and allow anyone (he specified 2-3 yr olds) who could “check a box” to vote. This one was essentially a ridiculous case that was going to be decided by speaking-style. First thing they said was: “Mr. speaker, we’re going to talk about having a ball…well…children…and…ummm…playing with their…ummm…balls…? Anyway…” Sure enough, when I went up, I said: “Mr. speaker, the PM mentioned playing with children’s balls…well, we’re not here to discuss what he does with his friends on the weekend. We’re here to discuss voting rights!” This debate was too much fun.
Dalhousie: We were the gov’t proposing creating a toll system for anyone entering downtown in a car for personal reasons. They brought up a point that people would continuously drive around the downtown perimeter (creating different traffic) because Montrealers would want to find the closest spot. Dan went up and said: “Listen. No one drives around NYC in circles to look for the closest parking spot. Please Mr. speaker: give me a break.”.
U of Ottawa: This was the last one of the day. We were the gov’t and we were tired. They were very good speakers as well, and took apart our case pretty well. This is the only one I think we lost, but who knows!? I was too tired to make any smart-ass comments by this point.
Finally some observations I made over the weekend:
You might be a debate geek if…
1. You can speak very eloquently in a government/opposition format but when it comes to a regular social/lunch time interaction you can’t seem to get a word out.
2. You’re bitter and talk about your losses and how they were unfair 3 weeks after a competition.
3. You use expressions like “counter-argument” and “I propose that…” in EVERY conversation you have.
4. You very loudly make idiotic jokes thinking you’re cool and then high-five your buddies because you’re the only 3 people laughing in the auditorium.
5. You try to use big words so you can sound smart but neglect to realize that a key part of communication is that the receiver should understand what you’re saying.
6. You say things like: “Dude! This tie really puts me in my debating zone! It’s crazy.”.
My personal favorite (yes I actually saw this): 7. You hold hands in a circle with your trench coat/sun glasses indoors-at-night time wearing friends and proceed to jump/dance around like gay fairies.
Yes…I felt awkward more than once at this event. I still had a really good time though!! We didn’t make it into the final round (I wasn’t expecting to) and I’ll get some official results/feedback tomorrow.