April Topic

[Humchuckninny]

Resolved: English should be the official language of the United States (or however it's worded)

Any discussion on it?

[MRdbtr]

hmm... this is going to be a very interesting topic, i think. It could be better, but not bad at all

[Humchuckninny]

Yeah, unlike the last one, which was unfortunately one sided :(

But my partner and I still managed (and with an extremely abusive Pro case) to pull off a load of wins ;)

[PureAdrenalineX]

Yeh i hate this topic...I like Jan. so much more...i prayed for a international relations one but nooooo the Forum gods couldn't grant me that. GRRRR

[Humchuckninny]

LoL I absolutely loved the jan topic too, so much ground each side could cover!! So many possibilities!! Plus I've recently been doing FX, so international is more my level. And often times the judges have no idea what is going on with foriegn policies, so you can bs your way through rounds all the time.

[The King of Red Lions]

Totally, we need some international relations based topics a few times a year.

[PureAdrenalineX]

No doubt...we have only had two this year...Jan. and Oct....we just need more international ones...those are the ones that spur the best debate.

[Humchuckninny]

I dunno though, this one will probably get some good stuff. Well seeing as none of us are in the same district, what ideas do you guys have? personally I think con will have the greatest advantage, all they have to do is defend the status quo. Aff is going to have burden of proof in this resolution.

[Humchuckninny]

One thing that I think will be a key factor in a few rounds is what exactly is entitled with an official language? If we create an official language, will it actually CHANGE the status quo?

[MRdbtr]

Yes, i believe it will. WIth the official language in place, the gov. is no longer obligated to print documents in any language OTHER THAN english. Period. There's where the contention lies:The land of opportunity becomes the land of hindrance.

Adam

[Humchuckninny]

But is it hinderance, or unity?

[iknowyouloveme]

Bottom line, the April topic sucks.

[Humchuckninny]

And you are done, this is an excellent topic. It has (decent) arguments for both sides. I will admit it's definately NOT the best one, or even in the best three, but it still is decent. Agruable.

[PureAdrenalineX]

Although it isn't the topic I would have prefered to have to do at our Nat Quals, it is still a decent topic. It should produce good debate, which is what matters.

[Humchuckninny]

Yeah. I think nat quals will be very interesting...but I would like to get some debates in before then, anyone know of any tournies before nat quals that will be providing PF, preferably in CO? We'll go out of state too, if necessary...or would anyone NOT in my district (columbine district, whatever district it is..) like to get together to do some mock debating?

[MRdbtr]

If it could be arranged, i am sure that at least two of Mesa Ridge's four teams would rise to the offer of a mock debate. Correct me if i am wrong, Bugbee man....

Adam

[PureAdrenalineX]

No you are dead on Adam. I know I would love to do a mock debate and I am sure Klop would be in two. What about Captain Gage? I'm sure he would want to but he is your partner.

[Humchuckninny]

Haha, Captain Gage?

[MRdbtr]

Sort of a long story, i'm not quite sure i know it. The kid is my debate partner, he's a junior and extremely intelligent, funny as **** too, but the typical brain at our school (all the APs and whatnot done this year). We have called him that for a while, i think it has something to do with Brit Lit last year, Bugbee can fill you in when he reads the post. It'll fit next year when he's actually captain.

Adam

[PureAdrenalineX]

Well to be honest there is no real story about the captain nickname. Myself and a few of my friends (current PF partner included) just randomly started calling him that. I like it better than KO Mazerowski...what do you think Adam?

[MRdbtr]

You just don't like "KO Mazurowski" because he punched your *** at Northridge. Funniest moment of the year, bar none.

Adam

[Flowers]

so like isn't english already our official language?

Public debate seems so different on the high school circuit. On the college level you and your opponent cross out different topics before round and decide what your res will be from there.

I'm guessing you're allowed, as an affirmative team, to take a policymaking authority right? You can pass plans?

[Humchuckninny]

Nope, currently there is no official language of the United States. They've tried doing it many times before, you can see court cases on making it the official language, bills, etc.

I didn't know they had Public Forum on the college level...it's still called Public Forum there? That's awesome though, I'd like to do that in a round - it'd be interesting.

For this resolution, I would say that'd be fine. Two things though - First, be careful about it. It could sound like a critik and those are definately banned in PF. Second, don't get abusive. It depends on your region, but in Colorado abusiveness does not go over very well at all.

If you get some official document (for example I'm using the actual bill they tried to pass in congress) or something else to use AS the plan rather than something YOU wrote, it'd be best. They'd definately call on abusive if YOU wrote all the impacts of English being the official language. Or look at other countries, and how official languages effect them. Or both, and keep them as cards :)

Say, who are you and where are you from? Just curious...

[PureAdrenalineX]

One of the best points I talked about was voting rights. If you take away multilingual ballots, how will American Citizens who do not speak English vote?

[Humchuckninny]

That came up a LOT in my rounds, and here's how I countered it. I said that basically yes, that might be ONE potential harm, however here's how it would be solved. First off, it's not even that large of a harm, because only about 10% of all people in minority group are registered voters in the first place (don't remember the exact statistic, but it was pretty low). And secondly, we're looking more at long term effects. English as the official langauge would make sure people would be learning English, so in a generation or so at least 95% of the population should fluently speak English (it's important to establish that early in the round, first crossfire or so).

So, yeah, we had our nat quals just two days ago. My partner and I dropped 2 rounds before finals :( and it was a pretty illegitimate ballot too. First off they won the round because I "spoke a little too fast" and secondly one of the judges had (what I feel to be) a bit of a bias against me. So....yeah, it was a split ballot anyways.

But seeing as I don't compete with this topic anymore, I'm willing to give away any and all secrets or answer any questions anyone might have, so you can ask on here, email me Humchuckninny@eskimobob.com or AIM - Humchuckninny.

Have fun!

[jarrett]

yeah brandon. that was gay. i'm sorry. but yous gots next year, fool.

[Humchuckninny]

LoL oh yeah. Next year, Andrew, next year. Me and you, first @ nats ;)