Disadvantages

NUDL Varsity Practice Materials

Agenda

• Warm Up (5 min)
• What is a Disad? (10-15 min)
• How to answer a Disad? (10 min)
• Writing a DA (10 min)
• Our Disads (10 min)
• Look over files (remaining time)

Warm Up: Speaking Drills

What is a Speaking Drill?

• Speaking drills are when we practice READING out loud!
• We do these because MOST of your constructive speeches is reading complicated, long articles. That is not something people are ~naturally~ good at. You have to practice!
• Why?
• Reading comprehension goes up (helps in English class, ACT, SAT, etc.)
• You will literally start to think faster (research shows policy debaters have MORE neural pathways than other people!)
• Preparing you for college (or life)- reading complex academic articles is most of college sadly

Drill 1

• Open up any Varsity file on the NUDL website! (Can do on your phone or laptop).
• The first drill is simple, just read for 1 minute straight, out loud.
• Try to be loud (but not scream) and try to avoid being distracted by the people standing next to you.
• This is a no judgement zone- if everyone is loud, no one stands out.

Drill 2

• This time, put the word “watermelon” between each word!
• This watermelon plan watermelon would watermelon
• Why? Helps you actually pay attention to the words on the page!

Drill 3

• Find a pen or pencil
• Put it in your mouth
• Try to read as clearly as possible with the pen in your mouth!
• Why? Helps with annunciation- making sure you aren’t mumbling and the judge can actually understand you!

Today, we are diving into Off-Case

Who can remind us what the 4 parts of an Affirmative case are?

What is the difference between off-case and on-case?

What is a “turn”?

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What is an offensive argument? What is a defensive argument?

Let’s start by talking about Disadvantages

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(aka Disads, aka DAs)

Does anyone remember what a disadvantage is?

What is a Disadvantage?

• Exactly what it sounds like- some bad thing that will happen if we do the plan.
• Why do we run them? Sometimes you don’t want to argue against certain parts of the case because you agree with the Aff that there is a problem. So you can run DA to show that the plan just isn’t worth it.

Example

The Novice plan says that we should ban drilling for oil and gas in Alaska.

As the Negative, you might not want to be the team arguing that: Oil drilling isn’t a problem, climate change isn’t real, we shouldn’t care about biodiversity.

So… we come in with a disadvantage to the plan. Can anyone think of a reason it might be bad to stop drilling for oil and gas in Alaska?

Novice Energy Disad

The whole country relies on fossil fuels right now. That is just a fact. Most people have gas cars and their homes are powered by coal/ natural gas.

If we cut off the ability to get fossil fuels from Alaska, we are basically limiting ourselves to buying fossil fuels from other countries (who by the way have way worse environmental regulations than we do).

As the price of energy goes up, cutting off access to domestic energy sources is bad for prices. Poor people suffer the most when energy prices are high.

Does the concept of a Disadvantage make sense to people?

Does anyone remember the 3 parts of a Disadvantage?

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(Hint: same as the 3 parts of an advantage)

Parts of a Disadvantage

• Uniqueness- Where are we now? (We are on the edge of a problem, but that problem has not happened yet.)
• Link- How the plan changes things. (Your plan pushes us over the edge/ causes a major problem.)
• (Internal Link)- Additional steps between the plan and the impact
• Impact- All the bad things that will happen if we do the plan.

Let’s go back to the Novice Example

Example- Energy Disad

• Uniqueness- Energy prices are high now, but Trump’s plans to expand drilling capacity could change that.
• Link- The plan prevents the US from accessing affordable energy, causing global energy prices to skyrocket.
• Impact- Low income people suffer (and literally die) when energy prices are high.

Questions about the parts of a Disadvantage?

How does the Affirmative answer a Disadvantage?

Answering a Disadvantage

• No Uniqueness- Either, we are NOT on the edge of a cliff, or we were going over that cliff either way. (The plan is not the thing that causes the bad thing to happen.)
• Sometimes these arguments confuse people because it sounds like you’re agreeing with the Neg, but really you are saying, “yeah, that bad thing was happening with or without the plan.”
• No Link- Most disads have a “slippery slope” mentality. Call out that this plan is NOT going to cause some catastrophic event.
• No Impact- Sometimes this one is hard or not worth doing, but you can argue that their impact isn’t a big deal.
• Sometimes this looks like saying “climate change isn’t going to kill us all” or “biodiversity is not that important” which can be tough.

You don’t have to win all 3 parts to win the flow! Proving even one part can be enough, but it is best to attack from all angles.

Example

• No Uniqueness- Global energy prices are already really high. The plan doesn’t cause high energy prices. (Even if the plan didn’t go into effect, it would take years to build the infrastructure to get oil and gas infrastructure up and running in Alaska).
• No Link- Drilling for oil actually doesn’t lower prices for Americans. Private companies would be the ones doing the drilling. They would sell into the global market, not save the oil and gas for Americans.
• No Impact- If prices are high, that is actually a good thing. It causes people to want to switch to renewable energy- which is better for the planet. We are trying to encourage people away from fossil fuels!

Questions about how to answer a Disad?

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Every disad has Affirmative cards to answer it, but you don’t even need cards. Usually pointing out the slippery slope/ no link can be enough!

Let’s practice by writing a DA!

With a partner, write a DA for the plan: The USFG should forgive student loan debt for all Americans.

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(Include a uniqueness, link, and impact)

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Share out when done!

We have 2 Disads to start the 25-26 school year…

Environment Disad

• Uniqueness- The Arctic is actually doing better right now/ starting to heal, but the situation is still precarious
• Link- Arctic development and exploration is very bad for the environment. Locks in global warming.
• Internal Link- The Arctic is key to the rest of the planet- if things start going bad in the Arctic, it will affect everyone
• Impact- Global warming will cause extinction and kill us all.

Affirmative Answer to Environment DA

• No Uniqueness- The Arctic is really not doing fine. It’s pretty far gone (ice melt, etc.) The main causes of Arctic melting have nothing to do with the plan.
• No Link- Drilling for oil is the real cause of problems in the Arctic (alternative cause/ alt cause).
• Link Turn- We need to do our plan because development allows us to bring in Green Tech. (Fisheries- good for environment, Icebreakers- help green research, REMs- help green tech).
• No Impact- Even in the worst case scenario, warming won’t cause extinction. We are adaptable.
• (Don’t read this if you also have a global warming impact)

Questions about the Environment DA?

Russia Relations Disad

• Uniqueness- Right now, Trump is really trying to work with Russia- especially in the Arctic. It is seen as a cooperation zone.
• Link- Doing anything unilaterally (by ourselves) in the Arctic is seen as aggressive by Russia/ hurts cooperation
• Internal Link- The Arctic is an important starting place to address issues like Ukraine, Nuclear disarmament, peace in the Middle East, and more!
• Impact- If the US and Russia have a bad relationship, things can go to war/ nuclear war very quickly.

Affirmative Answer to Russia Relations DA

• No Uniqueness- Arctic relations with Russia already suck now. They want to work with China, not us.
• No Link- The plan doesn’t piss off Russia. They don’t care.
• AT Internal Link- Even if we do cooperate in the Arctic, that doesn’t spill over to other areas. Arctic cooperation doesn’t magically equal peace in Ukraine.
• No Impact- Russia is not interested in going to war with the US. We will choose to solve issues through diplomacy.

Questions about the Russia Relations DA?

With any extra time, take some time to go on the NUDL website and look at the two disads. Skim over them! (Summarize the uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact for yourself!)