A Shaky Performance

On Thursday, December 11th, 2008, students in Mr. P. Murray's ENG4UE-01 class witnessed a shaky performance in debating. At around 1:25PM in Room 204 at Rockland District High School, Judges Seth Epps, Colton Bissonnette, and Logan Lubuk evaluated the affirmative and negative sides of the debate that distinguished modern and Shakespearean tragedy. On the affirmative side, Dawson Lybbert, Justin Sweeney-Cadieux, and Ben Cousins argued that modern tragedy is better than Shakespearean, whereas on the negative side, Stephanie MacDonald, Stephanie Boucher, and Rebecca Ritchie argued that Shakespearean tragedy trumps modern.
Opening arguments saw little factual information from the affirmative side, as they quickly dissolved under the heat in the classroom (and heat due to the knowledge that loss would be imminent). The negative side quickly demonstrated an appeal to flattery, revealing t-shirts under their sweaters, each having a judge's name within a heart drawn onto it. Debater Stephanie Boucher argued that Shakespearean tragedy involves protagonists that are larger than life, and take extreme action. Readers easily reach catharsis in Shakespearean tragedy, whereas in modern tragedy, readers have difficulties doing so.
Rebuttals saw the affirmative side reproaching Ms. Boucher for speaking too fast, as well as stating dully that modern tragedy is better than Shakespearean because it is more civilized. The affirmative quickly counter-stated that modern tragedy is not always civilized, but is always simplified. In simplifying the tragedy, the affirmative side argued that context could easily be lost, concluding that Shakespearean tragedy fits all tragedies, whereas modern tragedies do not.
The second round of arguments saw the affirmative side cracking sexist jokes, as well as many blond jokes targeting the negative team's debaters. Second arguments saw disorganization among the affirmative side, giving many repetitive examples of "new" tragedy being better than "old" tragedy. The negative side lost much of their oompf, slowing down their fast-paced arguments to sink to the level of repetition best-portrayed by affirmative debater Dawson Lybbert.
The rebuttals following the second round were weak and disorganized, leading up to a free-for-all with much screaming and little information.
The debate finally concluded at around 2:40 PM, with no closing arguments that supported both side's positions.
The negative side won with a score of 24 points, stamping out the 4 points awarded to the affirmative side.