I think you're painting a caricature of 'fast' debate, which is an extremely rigorous activity filled with incredibly smart people. You'll not hear me argue ag

I think you're painting a caricature of 'fast' debate, which is an extremely rigorous activity filled with incredibly smart people. You'll not hear me argue against the point that 'fast' debate is extremely rigorous and filled with smart people. At its core, debate is a game, and certain people have figured out (and more critically, achieved mastery of) the skillset required to win it--that requires intelligence and a lot of hard work. If my comment came across as negatively characterizing this kind of 'fast' debate, it's mainly because the intent of my post was to say, 'here's what an outsider/layperson might not know about high school debate.' The fact that debates can be won with cogent arguments, and the fact that it's a competition that attracts a lot of hardworking and smart students, are not surprising to most people. However, other aspects of the competition--the incredibly fast pace of speech, and the fact that debates can sometimes be won with absurd arguments based on the "rules" of debate--are probably not consistent with what most people think of when they hear "high school debate."