I went to the final debates for the Madison Cup and was very impressed by how serious and prepared the teams were regarding the subject of clean coal technology. Both sides appeared to be very knowledgable about the technological terms, and this knowledge was necessary for the debate on a highly specialized topic. At the end of the debate, one of the audience members made a comment to the affirming side that their dramatic tactics were shameful and inappropriate in collegiate debate. I completely disagree with this audience member. The affirmative side described events in which people had died as a result of coal mining to persoanalize the issue in the audience's mind, and it was very common and useful rhetorical tactic.
I also was able to attend the final debates of the Madison Cup held in Wilson Hall. This was the first debate I have ever attended and was quite impressed to say the least. The debate style was interesting, since it was not school vs. school, but instead the combined efforts of three schools vs. three schools. I enjoyed the topic of clean coal and its affects on greener energy sources because I feel like most of the teams could relate seeing that both Appalachian State and JMU are located in the mountain regions. After attending the debate i feel like I need to research more about the subject before i would take my own stance on the topic, but I feel that it is a very important topic that must not be taken lightly if the pratice of continuing to use coal energy is harmful to the environment and not a safe source of energy.
I attended the final debate at the Madison Cup with my sister. At first, I was hesitant to attend since I had never been to a debate before. However, upon entering the auditorium at Wilson Hall, I was pleased to see how many students came out to take part and watch the schools compete. Once the topic was announced and the debate started I was very intrigued of how knowledgeable each team was and how everyone properly stated their side of the topic. I have to agree that coal energy should be reduced and eventually replaced as a whole after hearing its negative effects on the environment and how unsafe it is for people working in the coal industry. In the future I hope to attend more debates on campus to open my eyes to others points of view and for useful techniques on how to properly debate any topic.
I was able to attend the finale of the Madison Cup debates. First off I was very intrigued by the set up of the finale, and I really enjoyed how the format encouraged the different schools to act as teammates. That being said, I believed that the topic of choice was a poor one. Not poor in the sense that it did not lead to stimulating discussion, but poor in the sense that the affirming side was forced to defend a position that many who work in the field of power generation and distribution have long since declared untenable. The refuting side did an excellent job at articulating these concerns, while deftly deflecting any attempts by the affirming side to transform the debate from one of empirical reality to one of emotional humanism. I was particularly impressed by the team from Cornell, who got my vote for the audience winner and eventually the Madison Cup itself. Their point was valid; at no stage should we ever discard the idea of making coal power obsolete, but to discard its use at this stage in our nations history is not only impractical, its impossible. I was also not impressed with some of the audience questioners, who in my opinion were merely attempting to demonize the negative position and ignoring the harsh reality that our globe's unquenchable thirst for power is at the root of the energy problems facing our country.
5 comments:
I went to the final debates for the Madison Cup and was very impressed by how serious and prepared the teams were regarding the subject of clean coal technology. Both sides appeared to be very knowledgable about the technological terms, and this knowledge was necessary for the debate on a highly specialized topic. At the end of the debate, one of the audience members made a comment to the affirming side that their dramatic tactics were shameful and inappropriate in collegiate debate. I completely disagree with this audience member. The affirmative side described events in which people had died as a result of coal mining to persoanalize the issue in the audience's mind, and it was very common and useful rhetorical tactic.
I also was able to attend the final debates of the Madison Cup held in Wilson Hall. This was the first debate I have ever attended and was quite impressed to say the least.
The debate style was interesting, since it was not school vs. school, but instead the combined efforts of three schools vs. three schools. I enjoyed the topic of clean coal and its affects on greener energy sources because I feel like most of the teams could relate seeing that both Appalachian State and JMU are located in the mountain regions.
After attending the debate i feel like I need to research more about the subject before i would take my own stance on the topic, but I feel that it is a very important topic that must not be taken lightly if the pratice of continuing to use coal energy is harmful to the environment and not a safe source of energy.
I attended the final debate at the Madison Cup with my sister. At first, I was hesitant to attend since I had never been to a debate before. However, upon entering the auditorium at Wilson Hall, I was pleased to see how many students came out to take part and watch the schools compete. Once the topic was announced and the debate started I was very intrigued of how knowledgeable each team was and how everyone properly stated their side of the topic. I have to agree that coal energy should be reduced and eventually replaced as a whole after hearing its negative effects on the environment and how unsafe it is for people working in the coal industry.
In the future I hope to attend more debates on campus to open my eyes to others points of view and for useful techniques on how to properly debate any topic.
I was able to attend the finale of the Madison Cup debates. First off I was very intrigued by the set up of the finale, and I really enjoyed how the format encouraged the different schools to act as teammates. That being said, I believed that the topic of choice was a poor one. Not poor in the sense that it did not lead to stimulating discussion, but poor in the sense that the affirming side was forced to defend a position that many who work in the field of power generation and distribution have long since declared untenable. The refuting side did an excellent job at articulating these concerns, while deftly deflecting any attempts by the affirming side to transform the debate from one of empirical reality to one of emotional humanism. I was particularly impressed by the team from Cornell, who got my vote for the audience winner and eventually the Madison Cup itself. Their point was valid; at no stage should we ever discard the idea of making coal power obsolete, but to discard its use at this stage in our nations history is not only impractical, its impossible. I was also not impressed with some of the audience questioners, who in my opinion were merely attempting to demonize the negative position and ignoring the harsh reality that our globe's unquenchable thirst for power is at the root of the energy problems facing our country.
And this event is still worth two events, correct?
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