Surprised By Lack Of Debating Burnout
I have to go man the UCL Debating Society stall in the Clubs and Societies Fair after my lecture today, and go do efficient things with Nick afterwards for the UCL tournament we’re in charge of organizing for next weekend.
It just occurred to me that I thought I’d be well and truly sick of debating after coming back from the Worlds, but I’ve been surprised to find myself reasonably happy to be forced back into it.
Monday was our weekly public debate, where I spoke in proposition of This House Would Legalize Prostitution. The debate probably epitomized all that is good and bad about our Monday night debates, the bad being the chronic dearth of good argument, and the good being the boisterous but still good-natured atmosphere. As is usually the case, I was the only girl speaking from the table, and decided, for the fun of it, to be filthier than all the male speakers. So I told the opposition they were pleasuring themselves under the table instead of listening to the debate, having sex with their mothers, and were generally sexually unappealing and inadequate, they then made reference to my “methods” of procuring financial support for my university education, and after the debate we all hugged and went to the Union bar arm in arm.
I’m not sure if I should be troubled by the fact a newcomer to Monday nights later described me to one of the regulars as “that Oriental girl who ripped all the guys to shreds and isn’t offended by anything”. It’s a question I wonder about from time to time – whether I should act in a more conventionally feminine way i.e. less swearing, less innuendo-packed comments, less I-won’t-take-any-shit-from-stupid-people aura, less confident, less assertive, less interesting…
Tuesday was our weekly competitive training, where the motion was This House Believes That The US Should Get Out, and the first proposition team defined the debate as being about NATO withdrawing from the Balkans. With Nick feeling less than healthy, I partnered Josh, a new exchange student from Georgetown, who hadn’t done British Parliamentary debating before. He did very well for a first time speaker, probably due to his other debating experience back in the US. I’m generally surprised I managed to enjoy a debate about a subject that I find less than thrilling after going through the burnout-inducing pressure of Worlds. Guess I really do love it.