2010-2011 Topic Choices

[TheGreatInstigator 1094]

Ummm, I think you meant to say ignored by EVERY community. We have belittled, ignored, mistreated, exploited, and in general, screwed over Latin America more times than we can possibly count.

Wow, I'm glad to see that someone I respect as much as Ankur feels exactly the same way I do. And living here has done nothing but confirm some of my worst fears about our role in the region.

[TheGreatInstigator 1094]

2. Personally, I think Latin America is just a boring topic. Also, it says "trade promotion," meaning that no trade actually has to increase, just the promotion for trade. Dumb wording, dumb topic.

I think that "trade promotion" would actually foster a much more interesting debate than "trade" - you'd (hopefully) get a long-overdue discussion of the Washington Consensus and the way it's been imposed on the region. There's ample ground for a wide spectrum of DAs and Ks within the "free trade" debate alone, and the topic could be applied to specific countries or resources at the aff's discretion (risking a certain degree of extratopicality, of course).

 

The current wording is perhaps a little too broad, but tons of exciting aff and neg ground. I'd be thrilled to coach/judge that topic.

[THodgman 179]

But when was the last resolution that the military was forced to reduce deployment/strategic initiatives? 2001 with the WMD topic. It would be an interesting turn to see the aff have to argue decreased deployment instead of building the military.

 

Yeah, still over twice as recently as Latin America. And the heg bad side of the debate (not that it even has to be heg bad with the right authors) has already been beaten to death. All of that debate can take place on almost any topic.

[Mattmilladb8 10]

my soul...

[Master of Puppets 34]

I voted UN just so on the neg i can make fun of the UN more than I already do

 

would be nice to not have states and other US generic DAs

 

 

also Dissolve the UN CP yup it would be a good one haha

[Dr. Fox On Socks 3928]

Ummm, I think you meant to say ignored by EVERY community. We have belittled, ignored, mistreated, exploited, and in general, screwed over Latin America more times than we can possibly count.

Some of those times are covered in Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow. It's quite accessible (i.e. told in a historical narrative that keeps the reader interested, easily readable by high schoolers) and tells the story of our involvements in Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Chile, and even Hawaii.

[slcathena 629]

Final 2 topics are military deployment and China.

[Publius 76]

Final 2 topics are military deployment and China.

 

1) URL/report?

2) Military.

[slcathena 629]

http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3578

[Master of Puppets 34]

Final 2 topics are military deployment and China.

 

I'm betting on military

[leapofaith97 84]

Yay. They picked two of the three most boring/safest/over-covered areas.

[Gunboat Debater 10]

Hoping for military...I'd like to be able to debate hegemony again on a more international scale.

[Mattythekid 312]

My vote is China:

Much wider aff ground while still having strong core neg ground, and something that is very important to learn about, but isn't widely covered in school.

 

 

Why Military is bad:

It. Is. Boring.

I'll admit, all those heg debates will be quite fun, but how can you take nothing but that for a whole year? I just think China has a lot more wiggle room while still having that mix of Big stick/small stick/kritikal ground.

Heg will still be a huge part of China, too, so its great.

[Publius 76]

My vote is China:

Much wider aff ground while still having strong core neg ground, and something that is very important to learn about, but isn't widely covered in school.

 

 

Why Military is bad:

It. Is. Boring.

I'll admit, all those heg debates will be quite fun, but how can you take nothing but that for a whole year? I just think China has a lot more wiggle room while still having that mix of Big stick/small stick/kritikal ground.

Heg will still be a huge part of China, too, so its great.

 

can you take idiots trying states cp's on China all year? Because you know they will.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Publius
Idiocy Explanation

[JFS 75]

I voted for UN for a couple of reasons.

 

1. Non-USFG actor = a nice change. No more USFG spending DAs, NO MORE F22 TRADE-OFF!

 

 

Ummm, you realize the funding for F-22's was cut in July?

[D.Clark011 4]

can you take idiots trying states cp's on China all year? Because you know they will.

 

I wouldn't call them idiots... The states cp solvency cards for CHina R+D last were pretty BA it's not that bad of an idea what so ever... The cards that we cut to it were pretty nice... Plus the net benefits are a wide range to cp for the CHina topic

[D.Clark011 4]

I vote for China, becuase it has a wide range of aff's on the topic, and plus you will still have your beloved heg debates. The heg debate will run wide for china in many areas i think. The realtions debate for the U.S. and China will be a fun debate, but very redundant.

[brorlob 1369]

Military deployment and China? I think I'll take next year off of judging.

[BHS_debater 38]

I voted for the UN topic. I think that it would be a very nice change, and also its a very badly needed change due to the fact that so many teams are becoming one sided with their politics/states strat and increase funding for X aff's. I guess almost all of these topics would solve that problem, but the UN actor would throw in a new twist and make things more interesting. I'd be ok with UN, Latin America, and Military (in order of most liked to least). But i'm pulling for UN.

[Mattythekid 312]

Military deployment and China? I think I'll take next year off of judging.

 

why?

[afltennis21 14]

Personally, I voted for Latin America because its an undercovered area in policy debate and isn't vastly influential internationally, but has great potential to really emerge on the global scale.

 

Now that it's boiled down to the China and Military Deployment, I'd go w/ China because it has more variety in arguments available and different aff areas and the military deployment topic just turns into one big heg debate every time (as if there isn't enough of that already).

[Publius 76]

I voted for the UN topic. I think that it would be a very nice change, and also its a very badly needed change due to the fact that so many teams are becoming one sided with their politics/states strat and increase funding for X aff's. I guess almost all of these topics would solve that problem, but the UN actor would throw in a new twist and make things more interesting. I'd be ok with UN, Latin America, and Military (in order of most liked to least). But i'm pulling for UN.

 

cool. because the only options left are China and Military

[Drew2010 55]

I vote for China, becuase it has a wide range of aff's on the topic, and plus you will still have your beloved heg debates. The heg debate will run wide for china in many areas i think. The realtions debate for the U.S. and China will be a fun debate, but very redundant.

 

So heg debates aren't redundant?

[afltennis21 14]

O, I wanted China over military deployment and I meant that it would just be a heg debate every time, which would get boring and redundant.

[D.Clark011 4]

So heg debates aren't redundant?

 

they are but their funner that US-Sino relation debate