High School Debater Takes on the Political Bias of the National Speech and Debate Association
“At the NSDA National Qualifier debate tournament in March, my judge warned me not to mention former President Donald Trump in a debate on President Joe Biden’s foreign policy record.”
We have been following reports from James Fishback about the changing and political nature of high school debates. There are certain topics and points of view that progressive debate judges are blocking and refuse to hear.
One high school debater named Briana Whatley recently posted a video to Twitter in which she takes on the bias of the National Speech and Debate Association. This is just great. Watch:
I'm a high school debater that has been censored. @speechanddebate and judges alike need to stop imputing their narrative into our debates.
LET US DEBATE! pic.twitter.com/5Htom9vajw
— Briana V. Whatley (@briana_whatley) June 29, 2023
Whatley further described her experiences in a piece for the Washington Examiner:
I wasn’t allowed to mention Trump in my high school debate
I love politics, but conversations about politics regularly include name-calling, shaming, and vitriol. That’s why I signed up to be on my high school’s debate team and join the National Speech and Debate Association. I wanted to converse respectfully with my peers about important domestic and international topics.
Unfortunately, high school debate is not what I thought it would be.
At the NSDA National Qualifier debate tournament in March, my judge warned me not to mention former President Donald Trump in a debate on President Joe Biden’s foreign policy record. The judge said that mentioning Trump was “inappropriate.” I was baffled. I had planned to argue that Biden’s foreign policy had fallen short in comparison to the previous administration — a perfectly valid approach, yet one I was not allowed to use, according to the judge. Put simply, I had to conform to her ideology if I wanted a chance to win.
Of course, my argument wasn’t “inappropriate.” It was based on facts and evidence: Trump’s presidency was enormously consequential, and Biden’s has paled in comparison. Trump convinced NATO members to increase their contributions, he was the first president in a generation not to start a new war, and perhaps most notably, he brokered the Abraham Accords. Those agreements established diplomatic recognition between various Muslim-majority states and Israel. I wasn’t allowed to say any of that. My preparation and research had gone to waste. I was censored and I lost.
She goes on to say that this was not an isolated incident. She lists other topics that were considered off-limits.
If we want high school debates to improve, we should put this young lady in charge.
Featured image via Twitter video.
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Comments
Uh oh, she’s black, what do they do now?
Where did she learn critical thinking skills??? Another Candace Owens to confound liberals.
The same occurred to me. Time will tell. Maybe Candace Owens will reach out to her.
She is impressive, and living proof that blacks don’t need a “helping hand” from the Marxist Democrats to succeed; they just need to work hard and study, and they will succeed on their own.
The left’s soft bigotry of low expectations needs to stop immediately. The debate question “How does AA help minorities?” should have been “Does AA help minorities?” You can be sure that the coaches and the debate society would reject that.
I bet this young lady also knows she is a woman, and why.
maybe she has TWO parents in HER home and who both CARE.
and are invlved in her life.
She’s obviously one a-them self-hating blacks.
Biden will tell her she “ain’t” black.
Appears to me to be more asian. As our most esteemed poohbahs running “higher education” these days have “proven” that as a “class” are more dispensible than blacks. .
…Declare her an “honorary white supremacist.”
The left will now turn on her and do that for you.
I encountered this type of unethical attitude toward debate in college, but it was in the students, and the professors would have none of it. Is this society purposely teaching ineptitude?
You ask that as if it’s not already happening
From a story posted by Mike LaChance yesterday, “Stanford prof laments high school textbooks teach climate change as two-sided issue.”
According to the professor, high schools should only teach one side of an issue—the politically correct one. Thus, there is no need for debates.
I’m just amazed they have the gall to call it “debate.”
Demonstrating the moral courage to make a stink when the opposition tries to impose Calvinball rules is a rare thing. Good for this young lady.
Oh oh! ANOTHER black face of white supremacy?
She is impressive, looks like she is on the right path to success.
Every one of her successes in life will be attributed to Affirmative Action.
Let’s reach out to Mr. Musk and President Trump to found a National Debate Club that values free speech. Make it a national forum, starting at the local level, (district), regional, divisional, and national. Provide all expenses to contestants, Judge them on their debate skills and thought processes, not the level of their political correctness and/or wokeness
Oh-oh, yes, she’s the great debater
Adrift in a world of her own
She played the game but to your real shame
You’ve left her to debate all alone.
Well done!
Perhaps debate teams need to accept that they aren’t there to win because the judge will rule against them if they argue facts, truth or logic?
Maybe start a debate rebellion?
The left will now turn on her and do that for you.
Ooops! Mispost.
When you are capable and earn your position by merit, you don’t whine or complain about racism and other crap:
See: Michelle Obama; Justice Jackson; AOC; etc.
In fact you are always aware that some people will think you didn’t actually earn or deserve you place. I believe that Justice Thomas has discussed this problem.
The kids are alright . . . (most of them, I think).
Let’s reach out to Mr. Musk and President Trump to found a National Debate Club that values free speech. Make it a national forum, starting at the local level, (district), regional, divisional, and national. Provide all expenses to contestants, Judge them on their debate skills and thought processes, not the level of their political correctness and/or wokeness.
Check out https://incubatedebate.org/
It might already exit.
“The judge said that mentioning Trump was “inappropriate.” I was baffled.”
It is quite simple. The judge does not want you to compare Biden to Trump on foreign policy because he does not compare favorably.
Democrats should not be allowed to be debate judges since they simply do not believe in debate anymore.
Facts are facts because the Democrat declares it fact. They declare facts and evidence you submit as “debunked” meaning they don’t like those facts and will not allow them to be discussed not that any actually contrary evidence has been submitted. Democrats are The Science!
This young woman may have been baffled when it happened but I doubt she is still baffled.
Ever since the National Forensics League changed it’s name it’s gone downhill.
John Derbyshire did an article on the serious decline of formal debate a few years ago.
There was a team of blacks that would reduce everything to racism within 15 seconds. (I cannot recall which school they represented).
Want do debate the value of hydroelectric power vs. the rights of spawning fishes? Racism.
How about the rights of ranchers vs the rules of the Department of Interior? Racism.
I watched a few minutes of the video he posted. The black team spoke very quickly but most of their words were “um, but” until they could launch into their racism diatribe, which was canned. It was truly ugly.
If I recall correctly, they went on to win the National Championship. It is the academic equivalent of putting males on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
Formal academic debate appears to being flushed down the DEI toilet.
Erronius