WUDC Korea 2021 began with a chorus of Gangnam Style and a motion on – you guessed it – Korea:
‘This house, as South Korea, would significantly increase cross-border economic co-operation with North Korea.’
Or, as the pre-round music lyrics put it, ‘why can’t we be friends?’
Why, indeed? After 15 tense minutes of prep time, we walked into Opening Opposition with no more than a skeleton of a case, involving diametrically opposed ideologies, tariffs, and information control (sending truckloads of subversive fortune cookies across the border? Plausible).
At times debating reduces to putting a crocodile in a onesie and calling it a cat, and though our first speeches of the day were not quite so dire, it did feel like we were selling a house with Glad-Wrap windows and a few doors with no rooms behind them. But thankfully, none of our opposing teams tried the handles, and we walked away with a rather lucky first.
There followed an interlude in which the organisation team corralled several hundred teams into their correct video calls, the pest exterminator prepared to fumigate a wasp nest in our wall, and Will and I steeled ourselves for a speedy exit should the swarm seek refuge on our side of the vent.
Fortunately, the day progressed without serious incident and we stepped up our game for round two as Closing Government, proposing to ban deplatforming of politicians by social media companies. Our case in a couple of words: self-actualisation and advertising. Essentially, we argued, it is a risky business to give a small group of executives and money-wielding corporations fiat over freedom of information in virtual spaces which are, in this day and age, essentially public, especially when such information is necessary for self-actualisation and informed voting. Furthermore, one should leave matters of law and order to those qualified to interpret the law.
We heard solid cases from skilled speakers on both sides of the debate. Opening Opp was all for cracking down on inflammatory rhetoric and CO supplied ample rebuttal, but ultimately, our characterisation of the incentives of social media companies secured a close second behind the team in Opening Government.
All told, a fun and successful start to the competition. Bring on round three!
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