RadioLab-Debatable by Mazhar Uddin

The Finals

mu140_ — 2023-11-03 23:14:47 UTC

Ryan and Elijah make it to the finals of the debate tournament and are up against Northwestern.

Debate Topic

mu140_ — 2023-11-03 23:15:48 UTC

Should the federal government of the United States increase incentives for alternate forms of energies?

Elijah and Ryan

mu140_ — 2023-11-03 23:19:53 UTC

The two are supposed to debate on why the United States should increase incentive for the use of solar energy and restrict coal/fossil fuels.

Home

mu140_ — 2023-11-03 23:24:01 UTC

The two choose not to talk about the topic at hand but rather about home and if it can be found in debate.

Movie Reference

mu140_ — 2023-11-03 23:59:27 UTC

Ryan references the film, "The Wiz", an all-black cast of The Wizard of Oz to begin his argument about the new topic they have chosen to make the focal point.

Topicality

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 00:16:09 UTC

Peyton and Arjun are arguing against Peyton and Elijah. One of their main focuses were that the two should stay on topic.

Relevance

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 00:18:00 UTC

Topicality is not stated in the rules to be followed.

End of Debate

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 00:32:20 UTC

The two teams go back and forth and this results in a tight vote between all the judges. The affirmative side was able to argue about a topic that is completely divergent from the topic given while the negative team argued close to the topic but also made counterarguments to the affirmative.

Winner

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 00:34:37 UTC

Elijah and Ryan win with a 3-2 vote Emporia-Northwestern.

The Significance

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:23:40 UTC

Ryan's win was monumental in that there has never been a black team that had gotten that far before and won the competition. The Louisville Method received both praise and backlash.

Scott Harris

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:25:53 UTC

Harris was one of the judges who gave the decisive vote to Emporia and did so because even though they challenged the topic, their argument was better than what could have been done the traditional way.

Universities Pulling Out

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:30:22 UTC

A lot of teams withdrew because they did not think Emporia's style of debate was appropriate. Some went to create their own competitions.

Leveling the Field

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:32:02 UTC

The Louisville method allowed Emporia to compete with highly funded private institutions.

Challenging Views

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:33:18 UTC

It challenged the traditional view on debates and opened many to different ways of winning debates.

The Impact of Performance Style

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:37:27 UTC

It nearly ruined the traditional style of debate.

Next Year

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:38:41 UTC

The next year another team of two black women made it through to the final with a similar performance-style debate.

Debate is Home

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:40:59 UTC

Debate has been the story of Harris' life so the two talking about the significance of debate in a personal way must have connected with Scott much better than a traditional debate could have.

Ryan's Final Speech

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:43:31 UTC

In the final speech, Ryan says it war a blur but he does remember talking from the soul and his passion must have played a huge part in bringing the crowd into the debate.

Ryan's Reflection

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:44:32 UTC

With the backlash of his method of winning, Ryan felt he had been an anomaly.

Conclusion

mu140_ — 2023-11-04 01:46:20 UTC

The Louisville style of debate challenged the structure of debate. It helped Emporia, with limited funding, to be able to compete at the highest level of competition with universities such as Yale and Northwestern. Overall, there was backlash but it allowed progress to be made in the debate scene for black debaters.