Zhao,+John

Last edit Nov 17, 2011 Bio: I debated four years for Glenbrook South and graduated in 2010. I performed moderately well on the national circuit; I was in elims at most tourneys. Currently, I am studying engineering at University of Illinois. I do not debate in college. While GBS is a very policy-oriented team, that should not preclude the K from your strategy. I ran both critical and policy affs and did loved going for the k on the negative. I have been the 2a and 2n but ended my senior year being as a 2a. That said, I'm only slightly aff biased. Keep in mind that I am not familiar with the topic. This means I will probably give little weight to arguments concerning the literature base or which affs are common/uncommon and abusive/nonabusive unless there is a serious discussion of it in the round. This also means I won't understand acronyms and terms of art on this topic.

Speech: I have no problems flowing. Speak as fast as you can while maintaining clarity.

theory: I'm a pretty liberal judge as far as theory is concerned. I don't believe things like pics, conditionality, etc are abusive and in a technical debate thats a draw, I will err on the side that there was no abuse and look to the substantive arguments in the round.

General argumentation:

I give little concern for what the truth of an argument is. I ran and won on arguments like global warming causes the earth to explode. I defer to the quality of the warrants, the persuasiveness of the text, and the credibility of the author unless told otherwise by the debaters in the round. I prefer fleshed out rebuttals and will defer to the analysis made in the round. ie good analysis > good evidence. but if neither side does work, i will read the evidence and come to the appropriate conclusions.

I do believe that what is dropped is truth and an argument will need analysis in extending if it was dropped by the other side.

Please impact your arguments. While it is impossible to go into a round tabula rasa, I will try my best to assume as little as possible. Everything must have impacts -- T, theory, K, DA, CP, you get the idea. I will greatly appreciate comparative analysis and it will increase your chances of winning the round/getting higher speaker points.