Re: CR focus has the effect of dividing ground

[engstrom@husc.harvard.edu (Carl Engstrom)]

I think that the two benefits Rob lists are totally jive.  First, he argues 
that:

If the affirmative is limited to a discussion of gender
related discrimination, the negative will have as one of its many
available arguments the question of which form of discrimination should
be tackled first, which is in more immediate need of societal attention,
and which forms of redress trade off with other programs.

Yeah, I'll make that argument all the way to the parking lot on elim day.  
These type of tradeoff positions never get you anywhere.  The neg must 
prove: (1) There is a 1-to-1 tradeoff between tackling one type of 
discrimination and tackling another, despite the fact that awareness about 
gender and racial discrimination has seemed to rise simultaneously. (2) A 
government solution is coming to the discrimination which the aff ignores.  
Fat chance of proving these two things.  It would be tough to win a neg. 
round by saying, "Why are we worrying about gender discrimination when there 
is racial discrimination?"  
The second benefit, which seems very similar to the first, is that limiting 
the harm areas helps resolve the ground problems.  Yeah, right.  Before, the 
neg was like, "Oh no!  I have to defend racial discrimination and/or gender 
discrimination!"  But now, will the neg be like "Oh boy!  I only have to 
defend certain forms of discrimination!"  No way.  The only way to divide 
ground is by narrowly limiting the type of mechanism used on the 
topic--trying to limit the harm area doesn't get you very far at all--it 
just limits the educational value of the topic.

By the way, I was arguing for the inclusion of discrimination against people 
with learning disabilities or who are suffering from mental illness.  The 
level of understanding of these areas is pretty poor, and the educational 
value of including these areas is potentially very high.

Carl Engstrom
Harvard Debate

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