UNDERSTANDING THE KRITIK

1. UNDERSTANDING THE KRITIK by Lurp Lank and Alex Kosmachavelli

2. WATCH THIS COMMERCIAL!

3. NOW WATCH THIS COMMERCIAL!

4. EVERY COMMERCIAL HAS A MESSAGE... • What are these commercials trying to convince you to do? • "Buy our phone!" • Each commercial has the same message, but both commercials convey that message DIFFERENTLY.

5. 1AC'S HAVE MESSAGES TOO! • Why might the 1AC be similar to a commercial? • "Do our plan!" ("Buy our phone!") • In many ways, the 1AC is like a commercial. • The judge listens to the aff and decides whether to do what the aff suggests.

6. THIS TIME, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE WAY THIS COMMERCIAL PORTRAYS WOMEN.

7. LET'S TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS COMMERCIAL... • What are the stereotypes about women that this commercial suggests? • How might these stereotypes have an impact or an effect on women?

8. THERE'S GOT TO BE ANOTHER WAY! • Could the company have sold the phone without resorting to stereotypes? • How?

9. LET'S REVIEW: • 1) We've pointed out the assumptions about women that the commercial makes. When we're talking about the kritik, we call this the LINK. • 2) We've explained why those assumptions about women are bad. This is the IMPACT. • 3) We've suggested an alternative way of thinking about phones that isn't degrading to women. This is the ALTERNATIVE perspective.

10. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE JUST GIVEN YOUR FIRST (GOOD) FEMINISM KRITIK!

11. THE "K" ISN'T EVIL. IT'S MISUNDERSTOOD. The kritik is about exposing the assumptions the affirmative makes, explaining why those assumptions are bad and then suggesting an alternative perspective. You can kritik anything! You can even kritik this lecture! Can anyone think a kritik that might link to the major metaphor we've used today? **COUGHCAPITALISMCOUGH**

12. ANSWERING KRITIKS

13. STEP 1: DON'T PANIC! • Take a deep breath. Read the evidence. Consult your partner. Be nice. Ask polite, open-minded questions. Most of all, be willing to listen. • If you panic, you WILL say/do something that the other team can use against you.

14. STEP 2: ASK THEM ABOUT THE ALTERNATIVE! • When you read the 1AC, you gave the judge a picture of the world you want to live in AND how we can get there. • If they can't tell you what a BETTER world looks like AND how we're supposed to get there, YOU win the debate!

15. STEP 3: DON'T FORGET YOUR AFF! • You have impacts and, according to the 1AC, they are huge and incredibly important. • Didn't you say something about global warming? How are we going to talk about philosophy if we're all up to our necks in seawater?

16. STEP 4: PERMS ARE YOUR FRIEND! • The harder it is for them to explain their alternative, the more sympathetic your judge will be to YOUR argument that the plan and the criticism can be enacted at the same time.

17. KRITIKS ON THE TOPIC

18. SO WHAT Ks SHOULD WE EXPECT ON THIS TOPIC? • Idk bro, you tell me! • What parts of this topic do you think are philosophically problematic? • In the files you've read or the research you've done, have you come across any "K cards"? • Think of who will really be impacted by the plan. • When you think of all the economic, political, and social consequences of the resolution, does it occur to you that those might be philosophical conflicts on multiple levels?

19. THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT OF THE RESOLUTION • Lots of construction = environmental degradation • The global warming question • The philosophical justifications of action toward the environment • What Ks? • Deep Ecology • Heidegger • Ecofeminism

20. THE TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECT OF THE RESOLUTION • Many theories and theorists like to discuss our human relationship to technology. • Does it control us or do we control it? • How do we view the world we live in? To what extent do we interrupt or manipulate its natural order? • Managerialism • Humans manage the environment to a degree that allows them to manipulate it in favor of humanity - we don't control the environment, but we may redirect it. • What Ks? • Virilio - logic of speed • Heidegger - standing reserve • Basic managerialism Ks

21. THE POLITICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECT OF THE RESOLUTION • How does the plan affect women? • Could the plan contribute to racial inequality? • How does the plan affect the economically disadvantaged? • How does the plan contribute to political paranoia or affect our status within politics? • Does the plan give the government some type of unique control over us? • What Ks? • Security, feminism, capitalism, race kritiks, etc.

22. KRITIKS PRODUCED AT THE SCuFI • Foucault • Interrogates our position within the state • Do we actually have power as political agents, or are we somehow coopted by external forces? • Posits that there are organizational methods that monitor and control the means by which we can operate as agents within the state • Put simply: are our bodies susceptible to being "ordered" by the state? • This sort of control allows the state to commit mass destruction in the name of a "greater good" it has, itself, established • So...vote neg. Shift the discourse to new types of knowledge and education.

23. KRITIKS PRODUCED AT THE SCuFI • Tech K • Your basic kritik of technological managerialism • Does the aff somehow manage, manipulate, or even abuse the world's "standing reserve" for the benefit of the state? • Technology allows for the creation of knowledge production, which coopts our ability to be intellectuals within the state • Technology itself commodifies and then limits our ability to engage within the system as a citizen or agent

24. KRITIKS PRODUCED AT THE SCuFI • Capitalism • It's bad, judge • How does the resolution affect global trade and economics? • Who benefits most, in a realistic sense, from the resolution? • How can capitalism affect us in a negative way? • How do we break free?