Taiwan Debate Open

Taiwan Online Debate Open 2020

R1: Art & Culture

THBT Asian immigrants to Weastern countries should assimilate in the culture of their host country even at the expense of losing their original culture.

THR the increasing trend of producing reboot within franchises (e.g. Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Harry Potter, X-men).

THBT artists should refrain from actively and openly interpreting their own art.

R2: COVID-19

THBT philanthropic figures focused on COVID-19 should focus on prevention (e.g. distributing PPE) to possible cures/vaccines.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, THBT Western liberal democracies/governments should actively promote the narrative that individuals ought to sacrifice/make sacrifices for the collective community.

THS excess profit taxes on corporations that derived significant profits from a pandemic.

R3: Governance

THP a world where the legacies of radical revolutionaries are glorified over the legacies of peaceful revolutionaries.

THR the use of nostalgia (e.g. reminiscing over past/historical leaders, periods, or events) in politics.

THBT technocrats (highly educated and skilled experts) within authoritarian states should collectively refuse to work with/for the government.

R4: Personal Relationships

THP a world where sexual compatibility is prioritised over emotional compatibility, in relationships.

THBT parents have a duty to push their children to succeed even if it comes at the expense of their happiness.

THS parents actively confiding in their children about financial problems and personal insecurities.

R5: Law

THW not give employers access to criminal records of potential employees.

THW require both parties to use state lawyers, instead of private lawyers, in defamation trials.

THBT all sentencing should be decided according to an algorithm that considers purely the probability of recidivism of the convict.

High School SF

THR the dominant narrative that mainstream social movements should refrain from being antagonistic and aggressive, in pushing for changes/fighting against injustice.

THBT LGBTQIA+ activists in religiously conservative countries should seek to actively solicit support, funding and endorsement from religious entities.

THBT movements should not use civil disobedience as a strategy to achive their goals.

High School GF

THBT post-conflict societies should construct national indentities around a shared ethnicity, as opposed to a common culture.

TH opposes the narrative that refugees’ entitlement to help should be conditional upon their potential utility to the economy.

In post-conflict societies, THW actively supress information and interpretation, that paints any past dictator in a sympathetic light.

Open OF

THBT Iran should end its nuclear weapons program.

THBT US senators who approved (in confidential briefings) the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation (waterboarding, sleep deprivation, exposure to low temperatures for extended periods etc.) should be tried for war crimes.

TH, as Bernie Sanders, would have stayed in the race as opposed to dropping out.

Open QF

TH, as a prominent religious leader of a major organised religion, would promote any scripture/interpretation/doctrine that says thath the determinant factor of entering heaven is good deeds and not the level of faith/piety.

THP a world where the belief and disbelief in the existence of a god or gods is seen as an involuntary decision.

THR the usage of religious appeals as a rallying call for humanitarian causes.

Open SF

THBT the ‘Tax Mix’ should be set by reserve banks.

Tax Mix: a combination/mixture of various taxes, as opposed to the aggregate tax level.

THBT developing nations should distribute, as a dividend to citizens, income derived from nature resource extraction.

THBT the World Bank should have the full responsibility for the share of loss due to corruption.

When the World Bank lends loans to states, it must be repaid by the country and its population. Therefore, even though loans were stolen by corrupt leaders, citizens must pay it back. It is said that one-third is the normal rate of corruption of WB loans.

Open GF

THR “self-crit” culture.

"Self-crit culture" refers to a culture where individuals are encouraged to publicly and openly criticise themselves for their shortcomings.

THR the narrative that ideal deliberation should exclude display or involvement of emotions.

THO the use of scientific discoveries obtained through unethical means.

Taiwan Debate Open 2019

R1

This house supports the portrayal of female protagonists using extreme retributive violence.

This House supports removing art from the public domain (e.g. Netflix, museums, public distribution) when its creator is implicated in sexual misconduct.

THW make all news outlets non-profit.

R2

THBT sex education classes in schools should teach techniques for pure sexual gratification (including, but not limited to anal sex, oral sex, mutual gratification and masturbation).

THBT post-colonial states should teach local literature to the total exclusion of Western literature.

THW shut down schools with high incidence of mental illnesses among their student population.

R3

THW channel all conservation efforts towards keystone species rather than aesthetically-appealing species.

A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance. They have a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecology; without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. (e.g, bees, vulture, bats) Current major animal conversation efforts utilise non-keystone species as their mascots (i.e. pandas, dolphins, penguins)

THW permanently erase academic publications that have been retrospectively proven to be scientifically inaccurate (e.g. vaccine causing autism, MSG causing cardiovascular diseases).

THW make the adoption of ethical farming a prerequisite to receiving farming subsidy.

Ethical farming is the practice of engaging in environmentally-considerate methods of agriculture and raising of livestock. Examples include ensuring that livestock are fed natural diets, not excessively using pesticides, ensuring that animals are raised free-range etc.

R4

In their effort to forward queer acceptance, THBT openly queer artists should centre their art around their sexuality.

THBT pride events (e.g. entertainment, parades) should only accept sponsorship offers from MNCs with a strong history of LGBT+ policies.

In societies where base protections are already afforded to LGBT+ individuals, THBT the LGBT+ movement should prioritise combatting homonormativity within the community before striving for greater civil rights, e.g. adoption, marriage, etc.

Homonormativity refers to the assimilation of heteronormative ideals and constructs into LGBTQIA+ culture and identity Examples include masculine gay men being considered more desirable than feminine gay men, feminine lesbian women being more desirable than masculine lesbian women etc.

R5

THBT the state should actively relocate individuals away from economically depressed areas rather than develop their local economies.

THBT it is morally ethical for developing countries to heavily invest in sin tourism.

Assuming feasibility, TH would require a significant proportion of all publicly listed companies’ equity to be owned by sub-management level employees.

QF

THW subject state funding of long-term scientific and technological research and development to a referendum (e.g. space exploration, CERN)

Assuming the technology exists, THW operationalize the entire Criminal Justice System using artificial intellegence.

In times of national emergencies, e.g. terrorist attacks, mass shootings, THW temporarily restrict access to social media.

SF/EFL GF/Jr GF

THP a world where everyone believes in karmic reincarnation.

Karmic reincarnation is the belief that non-physical elements of a living being starts a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. The circumstance (e.g. living form, health, wealth etc.) of the present life is ditermined by the virtues and sins that have been committed in past lives.

THBT human right standards ought to be absolute and independent of cultural context.

THR premium placed on forgiveness.

GF

THBT it is not in the interest of the Republican Party to support Trump’s reelection campaign in the 2020 presidential elections.

In developing countries where they currently do not hold a majority, THBT progressive candidates should engage in unethical practices (e.g. vote-buying, vote rigging) in order to win the elections.

THW establish an independent African electoral commission to run national elections on the continent.

Taiwan Debate Open 2017

R1: Medicine

THW ban all medically non-essential cosmetic surgery.

THBT doctors should manipulate gravely ill patients into choosing euthanasia over resources-intensive life-extending treatment.

THR the prevalence of battlefield metaphors in describing the conditions of individuals with chronic diseases ( such as “cancer survivor”, “fighting cancer” and “losing the battle of cancel”).

R2: Religion

THBT the state should remove the tax-exempt status of all religious organizations deemed to have engaged in excessive or lavish spending (e.g., elaborate worship venues, excessive pay for leadership).

THR the rise of New Atheism.

New Atheist (e.g. Richard Dawkin) advocate that religious beliefs and superstitions are incompatible with science, rationality, and morality. New Atheism holds that religion should not be tolerated and must be actively criticized and exposed by rational challenge wherever its influence arises in government, education and politics.

THW ban proselytization.

R3: sports

TH prefers a world where athletes do not compete as representatives of their country.

THW professionalize student sporting leagues.

THBT sporting bodies should allow the use of all performance enhancing drugs.

R4: Gender

When educating the public about sexual abuse, assault and harassment. THW always speak of all genders and never emphasize the protection of women.

TH, as a parent, would teach their daughter about the existence of rampant and widespread sexism from a young age.

THR social justice movements’ increasing usage of the concept of intersectionality.

R5: Culture

THW force all directors to use blind audition in filming casting, unless the film’s content requires race-based casting (e.g., a film about Martin Luther King’s Life).

TH celebrates the adoption of a distinctively Taiwanese (as opposed to Chinese) identity by the Taiwanese people.

THBT prefers a world where African-American artistes provide message of peace, rather than confrontation, in their music.

R6: Dooms DAY

THBT environmental advocacy groups should not campaign on the basis of the claim that humanity, as a whole, faces imminent environmental catastrophe.

TH welcomes Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

You are the commander of a nuclear-armed submarine. You have received information that your country has suffered a catastrophic nuclear attack that has wiped out the government, as well as most of the population and infrastructure. Your submarine is the only one left. THW launch a retaliatory attack.

Taiwan Debate Open 2016

R1

THBT we should ban art which glorifies suicide and self-harm. (“Glofiry” meaning to describe or represent as admirable, such as emo music, vusual art that shows the slitting of wrists as aesthetically pleasing, etc.)

THR the decline of apparent technical skill as a key criterion in evaluating art.

THW prohibit private ownership of art deemed to be culturally or historically significant.

R2

THW make sharing economy businesses liable for damages done to customers using their business.

A sharing economy is an economic model in which individuals are able to borrow or rent assets owned by someone else. In this way, physical assets are shared as services. For example, a car owner may allow someone to rent out her vehicle while she is not using it, or a condo owner may rent out his condo while he is on vacation.

Criticism of the sharing economy often involves regulatory uncertainty. Businesses offering rental services are often regulated by federal, state or local authorities; unlicensed indivuduals offering rental services may not be following these regulations or paying the associated costs, giving them an “unfair” advantage that enables them to charge lower prices.

Examples of sharing economy platforms are Uber and Airbnb.

THBT the United Kingdom should leave the European Union.

THR the rise of automation of labour (Automation being the increasing usage to replace human labour and effort with machinery)

R3: Education

THW teach all students in detail about past state injustices (e.g. Colonization, Martial Law, racial discrimination, etc.)

TH regrets the increased social expectation of attending university.

TH supports “No Platform” policies in universities.

“No platform” refers to university policies that prevent certain groups of people/ certain ideologies from spreading their ideas within the university (e.g. anti-homophobia, Holocaust denial, etc.) This may happen by protests, banning of student groups, or rescinding invitations to someone asked to speak at an event, such as a guest lecture at a college. The concept apparently originates from a policy used by the British National Union of Students to prevent far-right wing racists from giving speeches on UK college campuses.

R4: Justice

THW ban plea bargains.

plea bargains are where the accused agrees to plead guilty and/or give information to authorities in exchange for not going to trial or having a lighter sentence)

THW require victim’s consent prior to prosecution.

In liberal democracies where minorities are still disenfranchised, such as Muslims in France, Blacks in America, indigenous populations in Australia and New Zealand, THBT extreme acts of civil disobedience are justified. (e.g. riots, police resistance, violence etc.)

R5

THBT countries that have suffered religious strife should ban public religiosity (eg. public prostelytization, the public display of religious symbols).

TH, as a prominent New Atheist, would publicly and vocally support moderate religious leaders in the fight against fundamentalism.

THW make the teaching of comparative religion compulsory in schools.

comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world’s religions. It is taught in ana academic perspective where no value judgement is made on the veracity of any of the religions.

R6: Media

TH, as the Western media, would refrain from commenting on foreign political elections.

Assuming that you will not be discovered, THBT social media networks should manipulate the news feeds to discourage rogue politicians (e.g. Trump, Duterte) from winning elections.

THBT the media should actively portray terrorists as criminals with justified causes.

QF

TH prefers dictatorship to democracy in post conflict societies.

TH supports the declarations of a state of emergency in responses to terrorist attacks.

TH supports the rise of anti-establishment politics.

the establishment refers to the group of influential people (including but not limited to party leaders, media personalities, businessmen) consistently involved in shaping party politics. They do this by helping certain “establishment-friendly” candidates with endorsements, fundraising, setting party rules, etc. Anti-establishment politics refers to a set of beliefs which seeks to challenge this order. Notable examples include Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

SF

In light of the confirmation of the Saudi government’s role in 9/11 attacks, THW cease military aid to the Saudi Arabian government.

TH, as Bernie Sanders, would pull out of the Democratic primary and lobby for unity under Hilary’s agenda.

TH celebrates corporations boycotting states that have passed anti-gay legislation.

GF

TH regrets Taiwan’s move towards ending conscription.

TH supports Japan significantly increasing their military strength.

THBT South Korea should return to the Sunshine policy.

the main of the Sunshine policy, carried out from 1998 to 2007, was to soften North Korea’s attitudes towards the South by encouraging interaction and ecxonomic assistance.

The national security policy had three basic principles

・No armed provocation by the North will be tolerated.

・The South will not attempt to absorb the North in any way.

## ・the South actively seeks