Debate instructions

Speech Requirements:
Length: 50-70 seconds. (You will have a brief cross-examination round--1 minute--at the end of each round.)
Rhetoric: I want you to use 2 of the following 3 "tricks" of persuasive speaking:

1. Reductio ad Absurdum (Latin for "reduce to absurdity"): Again, the example we used in class was the argument that Leonardo's sketches of submarines and helicopters were examples of European "technology."

To reduce that argument to absurdity, argue it like you believe it at first, but then steer it to a conclusion that shows how silly ("absurd") the agrument is. Example:

Leonardo's submarine was such impressive technology that you could tear the drawing from his journal and drown as you tried to drive it underwater; similarly, his helicopter was so impressive you could tear that drawing out, hold it over your head as you jump off a cliff, and plunge to your death under it. Great technology, those drawings. But only if Europe could actually make them--which it couldn't. We're talking technology here, not fantasy.

2. Analogy: Comparing two dissimilar things to draw out the difference. Example:

China's ships compared to Europe's ships about the way a Lexus compares to a tricycle.

Much more memorable than the boring, straight, and literal "China's shipbuilding was superior to Europe's."

3. Irony: Saying the opposite of what you mean. Example:

"If you want an example of a supremely superior religion for its tolerance of all other cultures' religious beliefs, look no further than Christian Europe. The Christians were more tolerant than all other religions combined."

The overwhelming evidence, from Crusades to crimes of heresy, shows the opposite is true. The audience gets the joke. And the audience likes you more for saying "Christian Europe was intolerant of other religions" in a more clever way. Irony is great.