<p>Debate – WUDC – Is EcoTerrorism Legitimate – Portland State University – March 2011 – Show Debate from Steven Taylor on Vimeo.</p>

Here’s a public debate on ecoterrorism from Portland State.

I like the idea of having public debates when a tournament starts. Sort of sets the mood, or at least is a reason for the media to pay attention to debate and debating.

Of course, there are more than a few people who would rather publicity and the media stay away from debate and debating. I’m not really sure what the motives for that are, I sort of understand it to be a fear of saying something that might come back to haunt you later on in life.

But if we allow things to be said in debates that we would not be comfortable saying outside of debates, I have to wonder what exactly the tournament as an institution is teaching.

I’m starting to think that videotaping and publicizing debates online is a nice way of operationalizing Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca’s theory of the Universal Audience. It can be a good technological check on debate becoming too isolated, esoteric, and sport-ish.

Here’s the final round from the PSU tournament:

<p>Debate – WUDC – Sell Your Vote – PSU 2011 National’s Warm-Up – Finals from Steven Taylor on Vimeo.</p>

Thanks for putting these online!