TRIGGERS FOR DEVELOPING YOUR CASE

The overall approach to developing your case will be discussed in more detail later. However, there are two triggers that provide an important initial guide about the general thrust that your arguments should take. It is convenient to discuss them at this point, with the other triggers.

Comparison Debates

Many debates call for a comparison. For example, “THAT IT IS BETTER TO BE SMART THAN TO BE KIND”, “THAT NATO IS A BETTER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER THAN THE UNITED NATIONS” or “THAT THE MEDIA IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE CHURCH”.

It is clear, as a general rule, what the affirmative team must show in these debates; it must show that one is greater than the other in some way (for example, greater benefit, power, etc). However, the negative position is less clear. Technically, a negative team could refute a comparison topic in two ways; either it could show the one is lesser than the other, or that the two are equal. For example, if the topic was “THAT THE MEDIA IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE CHURCH”, the negative team would, technically, be refuting the topic either by arguing, “the church is more powerful than the media”, or “the church and the media are equally powerful”. However, on closer inspection, negating a comparison topic by equality leads to a very weak argument!

Don’t do it! That is, in the topic above, the negative team should argue “the church is

more powerful than the media”, and not argue that “the church and the media are equally powerful”.

Why is this? A tightrope walker makes for a useful analogy. Why is everybody amazed at the skills of a tightrope walker? Because that person is able to tread very carefully along a very narrow line, without overbalancing on either side. In logical terms, this is exactly what a team attempts when it negates a comparison topic by equality: it is forced to balance its arguments very finely, while at the same time conceding most of the affirmative team’s case. For example, in the topic suggested above, a weak negative would argue, “We totally agree with all the affirmative’s very good reasons that the media is very powerful. However, those reasons are perfectly

counterbalanced by our arguments about the power of the church.” This amounts to

the negative team trying to tie the argument rather than win it, and is an easy way of

losing the debate! In short, as will be discussed further, the negative team should ‘play

hardball’ instead. Paradoxically, this may often leave the negative team with a more difficult case to argue, but a case that will ultimately be more successful.

The final question ‘triggered’ by such comparison debates, as with debates about failure, is “for whom?”. For example, the topic “THAT NATO IS A BETTER

Preparation: The Issue and Definition

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER THAN THE UNITED NATIONS” begs the question: ‘better’ for whom? For those having their human rights abused? For the international community generally? For the member nations of each organisation? There is no general answer to this question. However, you should answer this question, and make your approach clear at the outset.

Debates about a particular ‘age’ or ‘generation’

Some topics ask about a characteristic of our times. Such topics are often characterised by the words ‘age’, or ‘generation’. For example, “THAT WE ARE THE LOST GENERATION”, or “THAT IT IS THE AGE OF UNCLE SAM”. Other topics are ‘age’ topics in disguise. For example, the topic “THAT THE YEAR IS 1984” could be about issues of privacy in our society at this particular time. That is, this implication of the topic (on one interpretation, anyway) is that there is something special or different about this ‘age’ and its respect (or lack or respect) for privacy. When faced with a topic that suggests that there is something special about our particular point in history, you really should ask a few key questions. The answers to these questions are vital for developing your case (which will come later). As a general rule, you should ask the following questions:

• Why would it be the particular age or generation?

This question directs your thinking to the issue of the debate. For example, if the topic were “THAT WE ARE THE LOST GENERATION”, you would start to ask, “in what ways is our generation ‘lost’?”.

• Why would it be the particular age or generation now?

This question is easiest to overlook, but it is vital for developing your case. In the lost generation debate, for example, it is not a strong argument to say, “Our generation are the youth. Youth have always been lost - it is a natural part of growing up.” Why is this argument weak? Because it denies the key implication of this type of topic: that there is something special or different about our particular age.

A better answer might be, “Our generation is growing up at a time of unprecedented commercialism, which is often targeted exclusively at the youth market.”

• What characterises this age or generation?

This question develops your team’s answer to the second question. “Okay,” you ask yourself, “so the relevant point about ‘now’ is mass marketing through the mass media. So what?”.

One answer might be, “Whereas previous generations were raised by their parents and communities, our generation is being raised by multinational mass-marketing and MTV. This leaves us ‘lost’ because commercialism is self-interested, whereas

Preparation: The Issue and Definition

previous generations were raised more by those with more benevolent ideals.” This may not be true, of course, but it is a valid argument that answers the fundamental questions of “why now?” and “what characterises our age in particular?”.

• When did the age or generation start?

This question is necessary both to give further clarity to the issue of what characterises this era, and to ensure again that you are not arguing merely about characteristics that have always existed (for example, the argument that “youth have always been lost”). The answer to this last question will often be that it started as a gradual process between certain years. That is, you do not always need to give a single defining date as the start of the generation. For example, in the case above, your team could answer, “The age of mass marketing to adolescents has been a gradual process reflecting the emergence of the ‘teen’ as a distinct consumer. However, it has been particularly prevalent from and throughout the 1990s, and has rapidly increased with the growth of the Internet”.