"Debate" American Style: Our Top Orators in Action

I remember seeing this video a while ago: ▶ this video Is this actually indicative of the kind of structured debate that happens in colleges?

I don't know much about debating competitions, but I was floored when I saw this video when researching this. ▶ this video If this is real and not a parody, it seems like whatever scoring system they use incentivizes the wrong behavior even before you get into idealogical debates.

If anyone has a doubt as to how far "debate" has fallen, this should be an eye-opening case-in-point: ▶ this video [edit: Flagged? Really?? - this video exposes the very absurdity discussed in the article. A Championship debate team doing what few educated persons would recognize or identify as debate.]

I don't know how bad it is at the high school level, but it does get worse as you go up to the University level... For an example, take the 2014 CEDA Championship Debate held at Indiana University - ▶ this video * It seems that all the original videos from the above have been removed (from youtube), only clips are available. For those that are interested, a response to the criticism of the above "debate" was made that is itself cringe-worthy and difficult to watch - link

I dont know if it is acceptable to post YouTube links on HN, but here is a recording of recent national champions.[1] That it is even called debate is tragic. 1. ▶ this video