Durham Open 8-9 November 2014

Durham Open (Durham, 8-9 November 2014)

R1: THW ban religious organizations from providing rehabilitation services to drug and alcohol addicts.

R2: THBT democracies should extend voting rights to migrant workers.

R3: TH, as a feminist, would oppose products marketed to help women protect themselves from date rape.

[Info slide - Undercover Color are a company that are developing a nail-varnish that changes colour in the presence of date-rape drugs such as GHB and Rohypnol. Many bars provide bottle toppers such as 'the Spikey Bottle Topper' that encourage customers to protect their drinks.]

R4: THBT Arab-Israelis who successfully seek election to the Knesset should opt not to take up that seat.

[Info slide - The Knesset has 120 seats. 12 seats are taken up by Arab-Israelis, who are divided into six parties.]

R5: THBT the state should construct false historical narratives that promote social cohesion (e.g. racial and religious tolerance)

Semi-Final: THBT true women’s liberation is incompatible with the existence of organized religion.

Novice Final: There is a potion which can stop you falling in love. TH, as an 18 year old, would take the potion.

Open Final: THBT FB should manipulate users’ newsfeeds in order to promote progressive content.

[Info slide - In the past few years Facebook has engaged in a series of experiments manipulating the content that users are exposed to (e.g. skewing news feeds to show more happy/sad posts, showing or hiding posts about having voted) to determine whether this can have an effect on user’s actions/attitudes. In 2012, Facebook modified newsfeeds to test the effect of exposure to news articles about the upcoming elections, and whether it increased or decreased voter turnout. Research data suggests that these methods are effective at increasing voter turnout.]