Starting

I'm wondering:

I know it is possible to speak quickly. Veryveryveryveryveryquickly.

How fast is it possible to listen?

I'm discussing LD debate below - policy is in its own little world and I haven't seen a policy round in 20 years.

I like some speed in debate - it is boring to hear someone speaking slowly. But I wonder at the extreme speed. Clearly competitors can't hear evidence and write it down at the high speeds - because they peer over shoulders and ask to see evidence. As a judge I'm not passed all the evidence. So it is expected that if I say I'm comfortable with speed that I'll be able to understand all the evidence without looking at it.

I wonder. Most of the rounds I've heard have medium level speed. But extreme speed rounds are different. I wonder what the judges flowed in those rounds. Were they able to hear the evidence? Really? Because it seems like judges have a lot to gain from pretending that they heard the evidence.

Right now writing this post, I realize that many speed debaters/judges/coaches would simply say "of course" they can hear/flow fast enough. But they have something to gain from saying that - prestige. If you can hear/flow extreme speed that is super cool in the world of debate. So pretending that you can hear/flow extreme speed is also super cool.

It isn't hard to prove or disprove my concern. I wish I could test all the judges in high speed rounds. Take the case, have it read at extreme speeds and check the judge's flow for: tag lines, evidence citation, and specific information in the evidence. I'll even give the judges time to go back and add into their flow after it is read (I've seen a lot of the flows and they look like they are missing a lot of info - maybe the judges think they are remembering all the info - just to make it valid they can write it down after the case has been read so it can be validated.)

Many tournaments have criteria for who they place in open division LD rounds to judge. I think a test to determine a judge's ability to flow high speed rounds should be checked.

Because if judges CAN understand the high speed, then it is a skill that competitors interested in playing in the world of speed LD can and should learn. If judges can understand high speed than the debate is about the arguments and strategy.

But if judges CAN'T understand the high speed, then the round is a joke. And it isn't really funny.