[eDebate] The Death and Evolution of Policy debate

[Tina Mitchell]

           First, what is TOC (?) debate?  I?ve been out of the loop for a 
bit.  Second, in response to all of those foolios who believe policy debate 
should die, I thought newer arguments as for the reason why policy debate 
should die would evolve with the activity.  I debated for Lake City high 
school in Idaho and Pasadena City College, California, and Cal. State. L.A. 
for a total of six years, and I feel quite nostalgic about the activity that 
is continually evolving without me.  While many teams refuse to debate the 
resolution and devise innovative ways to address the philosophical 
assumptions of the resolution, a.k.a. critiques, or when a neg. uses 
multiple counter-plans, they are simply pushing the limits of how policy is 
examined.   They are redefining and expanding how we critically think.  How 
can it get any more real-world?  Those who criticize speed reading are not 
accounting for the asset that it can be in the ?real-world?.  While it isn?t 
kosher to give presentations in business or classroom settings at lighting 
speed, the speed in which these policy-debaters are learning to think and 
respond is priceless.  It can be psudo-intellectualism when the debater is 
bombastic or pompous, and those debaters are the ones who ignore judging 
paradigms and who give policy debate a bad-name in the first place.  It 
shouldn?t be frowned upon if a team runs a squirrel case or debates in a way 
no one has ever done-- it pushes limits and keeps things fresh.  Moreover, 
it?s a game.  A perfect example being Kentucky?s Malthus Whale D/A Debate.  
And if debaters are cleaver enough to cite whalers and their kin, to not be 
afraid to advocate an unthinkable position, then they should be 
congratulated.  It should not be something that?s feared.  If only 
politicians asked themselves the questions the most cunning debaters ask.  I 
hope that policy debate does not die.
	My final line of business is to say, I?m currently working on my MFA in 
creative writing at University of Idaho, and I?m reminiscing on past debate 
experience while I write political essays that surround debate.  
Additionally, I?m in the process of starting an online journal and would 
encourage all of you debaters/coaches/students to check it out and submit an 
article or two.  It is a way for you to take the arguments you love so 
dearly and spread the word in a different form of persuasion.  
www.theturniptruck.net
Tina Mitchell

_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus