Last changed on
Fri January 5, 2024 at 4:21 AM CST
The things:
Npiredebate@gmail.com
Affil: Baylor, Georgetown University, American Heritage and Walt Whitman High School.
If you think it matters, err on the side of sending a relevant card doc immediately after your 2nr/2ar.
**New things for College 2023-24(Harvard):
Weird relevant insight: Irrespective of the resolution- I am somewhat of a weapons enthusiast and national security nerd.
Yes, I am one of those weirdos that find pleasure in studying weapon systems, war/combat strategy and nuclear posture absent debate. Feel free to flex your topic knowledge, call out logical inconsistencies, break wild and nuanced positions etc. THESE WILL MAKE ME HAPPY(and generous with speaks).
In an equally debated round, the art of persuasion becomes increasingly important. I hate judge intervention and actively try to avoid it, but if you fail to shore up the debate in the 2nr/2ar its inevitable.
Please understand, you will not actually change my mind on things like Cap, Israel, Heg, and the necessity of national security or military resolve in the real world...and its NOT YOUR JOB TO; your job is to convince me that you have sufficiently met the burden set forth to win the round.
Internal link debates and 2nr scenario explanation on DAs have gotten more and more sparse...please do better. I personally dont study China-Taiwan and various other Asian ptx scenarios so I will be less familiar with the litany of acronyms and jargon.
***
TLDR:
Tech>Truth (default). I judge the debate in front of me. Debate is a game so learn to play it better or bring an emotional support blanket.
Yes, I will likely understand whatever K you're reading.
Framing, judge instruction and impact work are essential, do it or risk losing to an opponent that does.
There should be an audible transition cue/signal when going from end of card to next argument and/or tag. e.g. "next", "and", or even just a fractional millisecond pause. **Aside from this point, honestly, you can comfortably ignore everything else below. As long as I can flow you, I will follow the debate on your terms.
Additional thoughts:
-My first cx question as a 2N/debater has now become my first question when deciding debates--Why vote aff?
-My ballot is nothing more than a referendum on the AFF and will go to whichever team did the better debating. You decide what that means.
-Your ego should not exceed your skill but cowardice and beta energy are just as cringe.
-Topicality is a question of definitions, Framework is a question of models.
-If I don't have a reason why specifically the aff is net bad at the end of the debate, I will vote aff.
-CASE DEBATE, it's a thing...you should do it...it will make me happy and if done correctly, you will be rewarded heavily with speaks.
-Too many people (affs mainly) get away with blindly asserting cap is bad. Negatives that can take up this debate and do it well can expect favorable speaks.
More category specific stuff below, if you care.
Ks
From low theory to high theory I don't have any negative predispositions.
I do enjoy postmodernism, existentialism and psychoanalysis for casual reading so my familiarity with that literature will be deeper than other works.
Top-level stuff
1. You don't necessarily need to win an alt. Just make it clear you're going for presumption and/or linear disad.
2. Tell me why I care. Framing is uber important.
My major qualm with K debates, as of late, mainly centers around the link debate.
1. I would obvi prefer unique and hyper-spec links in the 1nc but block contextualization is sufficient.
2. Links to the status quo are links to the status quo and do not prove why the aff is net bad. Put differently, if your criticism makes claims about the current state of affairs/the world you need to win why the aff uniquely does something to change or exacerbate said claim or state of the world. Otherwise, I become extremely sympathetic to "Their links are to the status quo not the aff".
Security Ks are underrated. If you're reading a Cap K and cant articulate basic tenets or how your "party" deals with dissent...you can trust I will be annoyed.
CP
- vs policy affs I like "sneaky" CPs and process CPs if you can defend them.
- I think CPs are underrated against K affs and should be pursued more.
- Solvency comparison is rather important.
T
Good Topicality debates around policy affs are underappreciated.
Reasonability claims need a brightline
FWK
Perhaps contrary to popular assumption, I'm rather even on this front.
I think debate is a game...cause it is. So either learn to play it better or learn to accept disappointment.
Framework debates, imo, are a question of models and impact relevance.
Just because I personally like something or think its true, doesn't mean you have done the necessary work to win the argument in a debate.
Neg teams, you lose these debates when your opponent is able to exploit a substantial disconnect between your interp and your standards.
Aff teams, you should answer FW in a way most consistent with the story of your aff. If your aff straight up impact turns FW or topicality norms in debate, a 2AC that is mainly definitions and fairness based would certainly raise an eyebrow.