Aoki,+Eigen

Eigen Aoki (It’s pronounced Ay-gen) eggsta626@gmail.com Debated at Oak Park River Forest High School (2010-2013) Debating at Augustana College (2013-14)

This is my first year judging high school tournaments, but I debated for 3 years in high school and am currently debating at the college level. I’d say I’m more of a K debater, but that does not mean read the most ridiculous and absurd Kritik you can pull out of your evidence set. Debate is a game that gives students the opportunity to use their communication and argumentative skills to discuss, critique and analyze issues that they deem important. However, for the purposes of the debate space, there should be an “impact” to your arguments.

Here are my general thoughts on specific things

T - It’s definitely a voting issue, and don’t bother saying it’s a reverse voting issue. I’m a fan of T debates where the interpretations are well explained and the limits you are trying to set are clear. Good contextual evidence helps. I’m not familiar with “the core of the topic” yet, so those argument won’t get you very far. Even if you are winning every other part of a T debate, if there’s no impact, I’ll be more lenient with the aff. If you want me to get every standard and every argument, slow down a little bit.

DA’s – Nothing out of the ordinary here. Intrinsicness is not a reason that the politics dis-ad goes away for good, its just a reason that their needs to be a stronger link to the aff.

CP’s – Nothing out of the ordinary here either. I’ll vote on whatever CP you read, but make sure you clearly articulate why the CP doesn’t link to your net benefit. I’ve recently come to like Word PICs, and don’t think they are cheating. That said, I don’t want to hear a “The” PIC, make it specific to the aff’s advocacy.

K’s – I have no problem with Kritiks, but make sure you thoroughly explain them. What is the Link, what’s the impact and what does the alternative do. I will not do the work for you to piece together your Kritik coming out of the 2NR. Aff side: Realism is not the most responsive answer, and neither is framework. Explain why your aff overcomes the Kritik and why the alt doesn’t solve. If you do substantial work on the perm debate you should be fine.

Theory - I will not vote on reverse voting issues on T and perm theory unless the aff does something extremely and blatantly abusive. I’m totally fine with voting on Conditionality and other theory, but like T debates, its probably a good idea to slow down. Make sure your theoretical violations have a terminal impact.

Performance – I’m open to different approaches and methods of debate. That said, make sure there is an argument. Why is your method better? Framework is responsive, but you’ll have to do a good job comparing the two methods of debate. Debate has its flaws, but I think there is tons of educational value to it, and will most likely not vote on “debate is bad.”

Speaking – be clear, don’t speak into your computer screen. I’m fine calling out clear for you a couple times, but if it gets excessive, speaker points will drop.

Flashing – I won’t usually take prep for it, but if it takes a ridiculous amount of time I’ll just start prep again. The 1nr should never need time to put their speech doc on a flash drive, I’ll definitely take prep for that. Don’t steal prep time during flashing, it’s a big pet peeve of mine.

Misc – I’ll probably flow on an excel spreadsheet, and if you ever want my flow let me know, I can email it or flash it to you.

I think debate should be a community open to anybody that wants to be part of it, and therefore I will not tolerate discrimination within the debate space. Don’t be mean to your opponents, and don’t cheat. Debate should be fun!