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:
Whatley further described her experiences in a piece for the Washington Examiner:
I wasn’t allowed to mention Trump in my high school debateI 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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