What Passes For "Debate" In 'Murica's Colleges

Chris | InformationLiberation
May. 11, 2014

From Peter Schiff:

The 2014 Cross Examination Debate Association's national championship was held at Indiana University. The all African American female team from Towson University defeated the all African American male team from the University of Oklahoma. Though this might be a first for African American women, it is not a real win for women or African Americans, but a loss for collegiate debate specifically and America in general. I am not sure what the winners won, but it certainly wasn't a debate. In fact, to enable this hallow victory, the very concept of debate was thrown aside. In the name of political correctness and affirmative action, we have destroyed college debate, simply to bestow a meaningless trophy on students who demonstrate no actual debate skills. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. However it provides a shocking example as to why America is a nation in decline.

Link to full debate here -- just in case you think I left out the good parts. Trust me, there are no good parts. Notice how comments have been disabled!

Note, the original video above was censored due to a BS copyright complaint from the videographer. Fortunately, others reposted it.

See Peter explaining why the video disappeared here:

See this glowing and hilarious write up on the "debate" from the Atlantic, "Hacking Traditional College Debate's White-Privilege Problem."

Here's an excerpt:

Joe Leeson Schatz, Director of Speech and Debate at Binghamton University, is encouraged by the changes in debate style and community. “Finally, there’s a recognition in the academic space that the way argument has taken place in the past privileges certain types of people over others,” he said. “Arguments don’t necessarily have to be backed up by professors or written papers. They can come from lived experience.”

But other teams who have prepared for a traditional policy debate are frustrated when they encounter a meta-debate, or an alternative stylistic approach in competition. These teams say that the pedagogical goals of policy debate are not being met—and are even being undermined. Aaron Hardy, who coaches debate at Northwestern University, is concerned about where the field is headed. “We end up … with a large percentage of debates being devoted to arguing about the rules, rather than anything substantive,” he wrote on a CEDA message board last fall.

Logic and reason has no place in Murica's colleges. All that matters is how you "feel" about an issue. It's hard to believe people actually pay for this garbage.