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Is debate dead?

Ted Bauer
5 min readAug 26, 2020

Let’s start with a little personal narrative, as that might make this post more resonant for some: Probably my main extracurricular activity in high school was debate. I went to a fancy private school in New York City, and I was part of Junior Statesmen of America (JSA). I did it in 9th grade and was pretty good at it, then I think some of us got busted early 10th grade for drinking on a trip, so I got suspended from it for a bit … came back in 11th grade and was mowing down fools in debates for about six months. Made some good friends through it at other high schools around the Northeast, and then in 12th grade a lot of my non-in-my-own-HS friends were JSA people. In short, it was a big deal for me most of ages 15 to 18, give or take.

I would not say I was a “nuanced” debater and anyone that knew me in that time frame would agree, I bet. I was pretty funny at points and I understand the 35,000-foot level of issues, but not always all the individual elements. I created this character called “Little Timmy” who was always being wronged by things like gun control, abortion, single moms, drugs in schools, etc. I got a lot of wins with Little Timmy because I painted this whole narrative for the audience before I got to my real point. I probably could have been a politician at 16, except I already had some skeletons in my closet by then (and have gotten a few more in the intervening 22 years).

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Ted Bauer
Ted Bauer

Written by Ted Bauer

I write about a lot of different topics, from work to masculinity to relationships and social dynamics, I.e. modern friendship. Pleasure to be here.

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