McCarthy,+Shannon

=Background=

Debated 4 Years at Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines, IA Currently debating as a freshman at the University of Iowa

=General Philosophy=

1. This is my first year judging so I don't have a lot of experience. However, I will do my best to adjudicate in a fair and open-minded manner. 2. My favorite judges in high school were Melanie Johnson, Rohan Sadagopal, and Ben Hamburger, so if you're comfortable with them in the back of the room, I might be a good consolation prize. Also, my views on debate have been heavily shaped by Trevor Aufderheide. I think his philosophy is pretty good and reflective of the way I generally feel about debate. 3. I prefer fast, technical, and line-by-line forms of debate. If I can't understand you for any reason, I will let myself be heard. 4. Don't be rude. If you are overly mean or obnoxious your speaker points will suffer. Worse, if I catch you cheating (card-clipping, evidence fabrication, etc.) then you will also get an auto-loss and a swift kick in the behind. 5. Ethos will get you very far. Debate is a communicative activity, so those who excel at establishing credibility and speaking with authority should be rewarded as such.

=Thoughts on Certain Arguments=

DA - Yes. There is such thing as 0% risk. Most should be fine, not a huge fan of intrinsicness, etc debates CP - Almost everything is on the table. I lean neg on most theory questions, and I will vote on your consult CP, PIC, etc. If they are not well researched, however, don't bother. K - If you go for the K every single neg round, you might not want to pref me. It's not that I'm ideologically opposed to these arguments, I just do not have much knowledge on them. Pretty generic stuff like the Cap K and Security should be fine. If you're a big fan of Baudrillard and Deleuze, you won't want me as your judge. T - Always a voter and I lean towards competing interpretations. Reasonability is winnable but you're better off having some offensive arguments.

Reading stupid arguments makes me much less likely to pay attention. Don't test me.