Polling is up, but not for long! Vote for your topic for the cross examination by April 6,2016 at 11:59 PM EST. Along with the four competitors, the topic will be announced on April 7, 2016.
* If you would like to be one of the FOUR competitors, email our President (Elizabeth Carley) at [email protected]. The first FOUR to email will pick picked to debate! See you at the meeting on April 14, 2016 at 7:00 PM EST!
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Our next blog competition will be on Wednesday, April 6th, from 5-7pm! Don't miss out! You can look down below on our blog to check out the first ever game. We had a whole 47 comments - not too bad for the opening contest, haha!
Wonderful job, congratulations, and thank you to all the awesome players of our first blog contest! You guys were so great and I was so excited to see you participating, winning, and having fun - I had a good time just watching you play! Mabel took first place, Elijah took second, and Daniel took third. Well done!
Can't wait to see you all at the next game! :) Katherine, VP Don't forget, debaters, tonight is the deadline for our special Speech and Debate Club Magazine Contest! Send in all your amazing articles by 11:59pm TONIGHT! We can't wait to see your submissions!
A buzzword is defined as "a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context". In many speeches, particularly political ones, you will hear quite a few buzzwords. These are also referred to as "sound bites", which are "a brief recorded statement (as by a public figure) broadcast especially on a television news program; also : a brief catchy comment or saying". Buzzwords and sound bites are very popular because they are eye-catching, or, when read aloud, "ear-catching". When you read these phrases or hear someone speaking them persuasively it's hard not to want to agree! They can be very important in elections since people are looking for a new strong, smart, and well-rounded leader, and hearing a short, snappy quote from one candidate vs a few longer, boring ones from others in a news article can make the voting choice seem much easier. Buzzwords can also make you seem more confident and in-the-know. People like hearing short but sweet sentences which convey a lot in a nice package. However, if you aren't careful and use too many sound bites, or make them sound over-rehearsed or not meaningful, they can backfire on you. This is a great lesson for our club. When you debate, it's important to be careful and clear with your words, and it's excellent to include a great one-liner or sound bite that gets the crowd going. We all know that awesome feeling when we've heard a rebuttal end on a clever and well-spoken note and just want to applaud in our seats! For our game today we're going to look at a few excerpts from a speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President. For a little historic background, this presentation was done during a major event during a horrible time in our history. As for what the events were... well, you'll have to be the one to tell me! Here's how it's going to work: Below this introduction I'm going to post parts of a speech by FDR. After you've read it you'll have to figure out some trivia questions and post your answers in the comments. Submissions will end at 7pm (so no posts after that will count) and the first person to get all of them right will get to choose their side at the next non-themed debate. The top three winners (the first three to get everything right) will be named at the meeting! Finally, if you've skipped the introduction I suggest reading it because there will be a few questions about it on the quiz! Good luck debaters, and havvvveeee fun! On your marks, get set, go! The Challenge! "This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." "Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now." "There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly." "I shall spare no effort… the emergency at home cannot wait…." "If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife." "With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems….For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less." "We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it." -FDR Note: the pieces above are excerpts, so much of the speech is not complete. |
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