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Cussing(I'm from the south too) (fwd)

This is from one of my debaters who for some reason wanted me to check it 
out before it was sent...  And I thought this activity was suppose to 
teach confidence.  :-)   --Jamey

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 17:32:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jasmine Abdel-khalik <jca5@cornell.edu>
To: James Michael Dumas <jmd9@cornell.edu>
Subject: Cussing(I'm from the south too)

     I have noticed that a lot of coaches and judges have voiced their
opinion on the cussing issue and how it affects women in debate.  As a
minority, female, novice debater, I do not have a lot of experience with some
of the problems that have been discussed.  Most of the competitors that I
have debated have been as courteous and as clueless as I am!  However, I
have been allowed to attend some of the tournaments on the National Circuit
and I have had a few rounds where profanity have been part of the reponses to
my arguements.
      While I may not be qualified to respond, I can only give my opinion on
how to handle some of this cussing and it's affect on me.  I grew up taught
that ladies and gentlemen do not cuss, at least in the presence of the
opposite sex.  Especially ladies do not cuss.  I am not saying that these
people who cuss are not ladies and gentlemen, only explaining how I was
raised.  I find that there really does not seem to be a purpose to the
cursing that goes on.  It wastes time, breath and precious words that could
be used instead to refute an arguement.  However, the first time I heard one
of my arguements refered as "bullshit" I realized two things.  First that the
shock factor is great, at least for me.  I literally was not expecting to
hear those words and lost a few of the next ones!  Secondly, I really did not
care if the opposing team thought that my arguements were bullshit, only why.
     I find that the best response to this cussing is to not respond in
kind.  That produces no advantage and I personally find it discourteous and
unprofessional.  Instead, I tried and will continue to try and respond to
these arguements with some grace and simply point out that my arguements are
not faulty for this that and the other reason.  While I may lose the laugh
factor, at least I will retain the flow factor and hopefully win over the
judge.
     I would like to think that a judge will not be biased against anyone
who will not return the cussing.  I also would like to think that a judge will
look at the flow to make the decision, not how many times a team has made
him or her laugh.  Perhaps this is a bit naive of me, as this is only
my first year and I do not have a lot of experience, but I truly believe
that we are in this activity to learn about arguements and new ideas, not to
increase our ability to cuss.
     Also, in terms of how many females we have in the activity, I
personally see a lot of females and see them succeed.  At Cornell,
approximately half the team is now female.  Also, I only have to look at
Revco, Gigi from MoSo, or the Pace team as well as the UCO and the William
Jewel team to see females that are succeeding in this activity.  I don't
know how CEDA was in the past, but I hope that females will continue to
succeed in what is often considered an old boys activity.  Consider that
part of the female lib that I learned from the South!

Peace and :-),
Jasmine Abdel-khalik
Cornell University
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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