[eDebate] topicality is a penalty and an appropriate one

[Jonathan Karlin]

Truth.

On 6/2/07, pacedebate at aol.com <pacedebate at aol.com> wrote:

> If you lose topicality you deserve to be penalized for at least two reasons:

> #1 you are an uninvited party crasher #2 there are better ways to achieve

> your goal.

>

>  #1 That's why tournaments invite people. In the invitation they indicate

> what topic is to be discussed. If you show up at a tournament that invited

> you to debate about the middle east and demand to talk about the genocide in

> darfur it seems the group is being more than a little lenient to allow you

> to speak at all. Indicating you lose seems like a minor penalty and doesn't

> really sound that much like exclusion. Exclusion would be the treatment you

> get when you show up at a World Cup match with shoulder pads and helmets and

> demand the right to play

>  #2 If you really think Darfur is more deserving of debate than the middle

> east then host a debate tournament and invite people to debate about Darfur.

> If people show up to your Darfur tournament and insist on debating about the

> middle east you would be justified in showing them the door.

>

>  what's truly a waste of time, not to mention money, is to attend a debate

> tournament about a particular topic and not plan to discuss that topic.

>

>

>

> Tim Mahoney

>  Director of Debate, St. Mark's School of Texas

>  10600 Preston Road

>  Dallas, TX 75230

>  214-346-8141

>  214-734-3673 cell

>

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