• CommieMisha [she/her,they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    I did debate back in high school.

    80% of the debaters are ultra liberals

    15% are nazis-in-training

    5% are comrades

    • finale [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Bay Area debate is filled with socialists. My partnership rejected the topic and argued for a dictatorship of the proletariat most rounds, and we were ranked 5th in the country.

      There are a lot of radlibs, neoliberals, and fascists though.

      • Katieushka [they/them,she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        omg you have to tell me more. please, i really wanna know how all the libs clutched their balls at "the death penalty? shut up, i want to guillotine bezos"

        • finale [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          Often, instead of arguing about the topic, people will instead demonstrate their opponent's rhetoric as harmful (and then tell the judge to vote against them to discourage further harmful rhetoric). It's really easy to argue that the real world impacts of harmful rhetoric outweigh the importance of the actual debate topic.

          This leads to people preparing and memorizing increasingly long (3-6 minutes if you read quickly) criticisms of certain types rhetoric. For example, I memorized a 4 long page, scathing critique of capitalism (where we would demonstrate it as the cause of the issue the debate is trying to solve). Each round, the only part we would have to change is how their rhetoric emboldens capitalism (for example, when they advocate for an inadequate solution to the climate crisis, they are masking the underlying issue, capitalism).

          We would then contend that the judge should vote in our favor to endorse our message (usually an explicit call to the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat).

          This next part sounds fake, but I promise it's true. We were debating the daughter of Sheryl Sandberg and she came to watch (this was in a classroom, and there were ~4 people watching as it was just a prelim round). The judge was an experienced debater (meaning they'll accept debate about the impacts of rhetoric). So we got to argue for 40 minutes in front of a famous billionaire that the only way to save the environment was, and I quote, "violent socialist revolution". The daughter claimed we were being hypocritical by asking my partner "Didn't you pay to enter this tournament?" He responded honestly that our team captain covered his entrance fee, as he was broke at the time. We won the round, and Sheryl Sandberg's daughter did not advance to elimination rounds.

  • RNAi [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I like acting/theater, but I never could participate during highschool, a- am I a theater chapo? Is that bad?

    • longhorn617 [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      What is your opinion of musicals, specifically Les Misérables in relation to all other musicals?

      • RNAi [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I didn't watch it. I don't like musicals. I mean, yeah that's impressive and all I guess, but I really don't care about all the show you are making.

        • emizeko [they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          I don't like musicals.

          that's because you've never seen Les Misérables, the only good musical

        • longhorn617 [any]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          I will accept either "Les Misérables is the only good musical" (the more correct answer) or "There are no good musicals" (the only slightly less correct answer) as evidence of being a "theater chapo" and not a "theater kid". So yes, you are a "theater chapo".

          • RNAi [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            I did enjoy one Bollywood movie I saw, does it count?

          • emizeko [they/them]
            ·
            edit-2
            4 years ago

            One day more
            Another day, another destiny
            This never-ending road to Calvary
            These men who seem to know my crime
            Will surely come a second time
            One day more

    • AliceBToklas [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I think that the theater kid thing is something that you can only really get during high school/childhood just because so much of "theater kid" vibes is bound up in being a weird kid in school. I think you can basically get to full theater kid by just hanging out with a shitload of them even if you never do it.

      that being said I was a technical theater kid and there's a whole union that goes with that that I had to join to get my weapons grade awkwardness.

  • shitstorm [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I knew a conservative debate kid whose career goals was to work in the immigration processing part of an embassy. I didn't think much of it at the time cuz he was a nice enough guy, but he literally wants to filter who comes into our country.

    • longhorn617 [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      In 7th grade, I once described the ACLU as a "juggernaut" in a class discussion (with negative connotations) because I had been listening to Michael Savage on the radio, and now I am here, so you never know what stupid ideas kids will grow out of.