Good post, thank you. I imagine to go undefeated, you must excel at things beyond the dark arts described (in my experience, some judges refuse to buy an argument no matter how poorly opponents respond)? How much of your success do you attribute to 1) your general rhetorical skills or eloquence, and 2) ability to read judges to gauge which dark arts they seem most susceptible to?
So, this may seem surprising, but I’d consider Dark Arts to be a negligible part of me being undefeated. At least, in the sense that I could’ve easily used legitimate arguments and rebuttals instead to the same effect.
As you might already know, lay judges tend to judge far more based off speaking skill, confidence, body language, and factors other than the actual content of the argument. In that sense being the better debater usually gets you a win, regardless of the content of your argument, since the judge can’t follow anything except for the most apparent ‘wins’ and ‘losses’ on either side. All else being equal (and in debate, it usually is, since debaters usually steal good arguments until everyone is running similar cases) we should expect the better debater to win.
So why use the Dark Arts? Well… it may sound a little disappointing, but really, it’s just laziness. Neither me nor my partner wanted to go through the trouble of researching a good case. I had college apps, among other things, and he had his own commitments. The ability to BS my way out of an impossible situation thus allows me to skimp out on prep time in favor of arguing on the fly. Did this make me a ‘better’ debater? Kind’ve, in the sense that I can do far more with far less strong of a case, but then at the same time I’d much rather run a bulletproof case (only, of course, if I didn’t have to research it myself). The Dark arts saved my ass in this situation, since my case was garbage, but if I knew ahead of time I couldn’t use them I’d have just made a good case instead.
I still think the concept is helpful, which is why I’ve posted it, but if your goal is to maximize your debate victories rather than time spent prepping, I’d recommend you just do more prep and speaking drills. It tends to pay off. The Dark Arts is not your first choice for consistent, high level victories.
Good post, thank you. I imagine to go undefeated, you must excel at things beyond the dark arts described (in my experience, some judges refuse to buy an argument no matter how poorly opponents respond)? How much of your success do you attribute to 1) your general rhetorical skills or eloquence, and 2) ability to read judges to gauge which dark arts they seem most susceptible to?
Mhm, yes! Of course.
So, this may seem surprising, but I’d consider Dark Arts to be a negligible part of me being undefeated. At least, in the sense that I could’ve easily used legitimate arguments and rebuttals instead to the same effect.
As you might already know, lay judges tend to judge far more based off speaking skill, confidence, body language, and factors other than the actual content of the argument. In that sense being the better debater usually gets you a win, regardless of the content of your argument, since the judge can’t follow anything except for the most apparent ‘wins’ and ‘losses’ on either side. All else being equal (and in debate, it usually is, since debaters usually steal good arguments until everyone is running similar cases) we should expect the better debater to win.
So why use the Dark Arts? Well… it may sound a little disappointing, but really, it’s just laziness. Neither me nor my partner wanted to go through the trouble of researching a good case. I had college apps, among other things, and he had his own commitments. The ability to BS my way out of an impossible situation thus allows me to skimp out on prep time in favor of arguing on the fly. Did this make me a ‘better’ debater? Kind’ve, in the sense that I can do far more with far less strong of a case, but then at the same time I’d much rather run a bulletproof case (only, of course, if I didn’t have to research it myself). The Dark arts saved my ass in this situation, since my case was garbage, but if I knew ahead of time I couldn’t use them I’d have just made a good case instead.
I still think the concept is helpful, which is why I’ve posted it, but if your goal is to maximize your debate victories rather than time spent prepping, I’d recommend you just do more prep and speaking drills. It tends to pay off. The Dark Arts is not your first choice for consistent, high level victories.