Levi,+Jacob

Let's keep this short and sweet:

I debated for four years at the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, NY, graduating in 2006. I graduated from Pomona College in May, where I studied philosophy.

I think that the notion of a "tabula rosa" or objective judge is absurd. The act of signing the ballot constitutes "intervention," broadly construed. I say this not to encourage people to strike me, nor to suggest that I want to make the wrong decision, but so if you don't like my decision, well it's ultimately your fault. In my experience, there are three kinds of rounds: a. really lopsided, clear rounds b. really unclear, close rounds and c. really clear, close rounds. Obviously, a. and c. are pretty straight-forward rounds to judge (usually) uncontroversially. With close, unclear rounds, it is likely that one debater will leave the room feeling robbed. Usually this is due to unclear argumentation, poor weighing, incoherency, lack of a ballot story, etc. Sorry. Judging is ultimately subjective, and if you leave too many things up in the air, you may not like where the chips fall. There's my disclaimer.

With that said, judges have the obligation to be predictable, and to attempt to minimize the influence of personal bias in decisions. I try to let the flow dictate my decisions, and I will use the competing frameworks provided by the debaters to set the standards through which I make my decision. I will not exclude arguments because they seem incorrect or counter-intuitive, though when arguments start to border offensive or blatantly (empirically) incorrect, I will be very hesitant (like, arguing that the Holocaust did not exist, or that the sky is purple).

I appreciate creative approaches to topics, and philosophical positions. But such approaches come with their own set of difficulties, and I will not be happy to listen to rambling unclear arguments that you call a "kritik" because it uses big words.

I think theory has a place in LD, but about 90% of the theory I hear these days in LD is crap, to put it kindly. If you have been abused, you should run theory. If you are more concerned with creating or finding abuse where there is none, just don't.

If you have any other questions, please ask.