Tournament: NDCA | Round: 2 | Opponent: Apple Valley KW | Judge: David Herrera
Venture capitalists like Elon Musk seek to appropriate space by doing things like nuking Mars so that it can be terraformed into something similar to Earth. This drive to make Mars in the image of Earth exports anti-queer ideologies into space. Instead of allowing private appropriation of space, we should adopt a model that allows us to discover ourselves in the queer diversity of outer space. Oman-Reagan, 15
Michael P. Oman-Reagan is a social scientist, artist, activist, and zen practitioner in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. Oman-Reagan is a co-founder of The People’s Library, the library of the Occupy Wall Street social movement in New York City. He serves on the advisory boards for METI International and the Astrosociology Research Institute, is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Committee, and was a founding board member of the JustSpace Alliance (2018-20). He founded Wind Island Sangha, in British Columbia, Canada. After completing B.A. degrees in four-field Anthropology and Religion he earned an M.A. degree and Ph.D. candidacy in Cultural Anthropology. His PhD research as a Vanier Scholar examined human relations with Earth and space through the search for life in astrobiology and SETI. Library Journal named him a Mover and Shaker in 2012. He is an alumnus of AFS Intercultural Programs (Nykøbing Falster, Denmark), Reed College (biology and philosophy), Pacific Northwest College of Art (contemporary theory and printmaking), the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship at Universitas Negeri Malang (East Java, Indonesia), Hunter College of the City University of New York (Department of Anthropology B.A./M.A., Program in Religion B.A., and Thomas Hunter Honors Program B.A.), and Memorial University (P.h.D. candidacy, anthropology). Research Areas: Space, Futures, the Interstellar, Astrobiology, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Speculative Fiction, Social Movements, Activism, Social Media, New Religions. “Queering Outer Space.” SocArXiv, Open Science Framework. Manuscript, submitted January 22, 2017. osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/mpyk6/ JLeenhouts
When NASA received a signal from the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 2012, they called it “the sound of interstellar …
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… ongoing violences here on Earth. A queer diversity.
LD debate is no different; it consistently erases the existence of queer debaters. Normative practices like disclosure theory and open-source theory force non-binary students to out themselves which is uniquely violent. Resolutions force us to debate futures that time and time again exclude queer debaters due to our lack of access to these heteronormative futures.
Status quo LD is heteronormative and doesn’t acknowledge non-binary persons; the over reliance of tech over truth allows the flow to justify rhetorical violence. The overall endorsement of misgendering turns what should be safe zones into spaces of oppression for non-binary competitors. This chilling effect leads to self-loathing and gender dysphoria. Blake, 19
Sophie Blake is a trans LD debater from a small school who loves teaching and giving younger debaters access to opportunities, and coaches several small school or independent debaters. Sophie values the scholastic value of debate and encourages debaters to become authors and methodological activists both inside and outside of debate rounds. Sophie emphasizes diverse and creative argumentation, and an increased communal prioritization and student awareness of the implications of community practices then the competitive nature of debate as an activity. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Sophie if you have questions about debate or need a friend in the debate community. “Fighting for a Place in the Room by Sophie Blake,” 16 October 2019, https://www.vbriefly.com/2019/10/16/fighting-for-a-place-in-the-room-by-sophie-blake/ Cgilbert
As debaters continue to conflate women …
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… feminist movements. Which results in the disconnect this article reveals.
Heteronormativity is also soul murder
Yep prof comm @ san fransisco state 2k3 (Gust, “The Violence of Heteronormativity in Communication Studies', Journal of Homosexuality, 45: 2, 11 — 59
These are the internal injuries that individuals …
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… mandate a widespread form of soul murder?
Today’s value is queerness; any other value inherently protects a heteronormative future. Today’s Value Criterion is subject formation. Debate is a space where we learn arguments that will shape how we view the world. ALL we take away is knowledge from this round so the VC in today’s debate HAS to be about what we learn and HOW it shapes us.
Institutional violence is a form of heteronormativity
Yep ’13 (Gust, “The Violence of Heteronormativity in Communication Studies', Journal of Homosexuality, 45: 2, 11 — 59)
These are systematic and socially …
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…social system and institutions.
Shutting out queer relationality translates into a transmisogynistic functioning of the academy — carving out seconds of power is key to prevent that violence. Lavender, 19
(Lila describes herself as a “white/settler transgirl, Maoist internationalist and radical transfeminist,” they are a former debater, https://medium.com/@chriscoles_66854/my-intentions-trans-women-the-university-and-thievery-45ada00884c0)//LFS–AP
I have no interest in attempting to write projects that are not for trans women…
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… projects that would seek to upend the university itself.
The queer body is constantly forced into life as overkill – this is the naturalization of antiqueerness that perpetuates violence that renders queerness inherently dead.
Stanley 2011 Eric, “Near Life, Queer Death Overkill and Ontological Capture,” Social Text 107 s Vol. 29, No. 2 s Summer 2011
Overkill is a term used to indicate …
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… to do violence to what is nothing.
The intersection of private entities and military dominance has led to a reproduction of futurity, in outer space, that uniquely excludes the Queer experience. That makes the aff an ontological prior question insofar as it begs questions of futurity, agency, and access to the political.
Vote aff to queer both outer space and debate; the method is key to adopt an intersectional approach that resists capital and colonial domination that creates solidarity among marginalized groups. Oman-Reagan, 15
Michael P. Oman-Reagan is a social scientist, artist, activist, and zen practitioner in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. Oman-Reagan is a co-founder of The People’s Library, the library of the Occupy Wall Street social movement in New York City. He serves on the advisory boards for METI International and the Astrosociology Research Institute, is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Committee, and was a founding board member of the JustSpace Alliance (2018-20). He founded Wind Island Sangha, in British Columbia, Canada. After completing B.A. degrees in four-field Anthropology and Religion he earned an M.A. degree and Ph.D. candidacy in Cultural Anthropology. His PhD research as a Vanier Scholar examined human relations with Earth and space through the search for life in astrobiology and SETI. Library Journal named him a Mover and Shaker in 2012. He is an alumnus of AFS Intercultural Programs (Nykøbing Falster, Denmark), Reed College (biology and philosophy), Pacific Northwest College of Art (contemporary theory and printmaking), the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship at Universitas Negeri Malang (East Java, Indonesia), Hunter College of the City University of New York (Department of Anthropology B.A./M.A., Program in Religion B.A., and Thomas Hunter Honors Program B.A.), and Memorial University (P.h.D. candidacy, anthropology). Research Areas: Space, Futures, the Interstellar, Astrobiology, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Speculative Fiction, Social Movements, Activism, Social Media, New Religions. “Queering Outer Space.” SocArXiv, Open Science Framework. Manuscript, submitted January 22, 2017. osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/mpyk6/ JLeenhouts
It’s time to queer outer space. …
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… if you’re asking that — the answer might be you.
Thus, the Role of the Ballot is to endorse a praxis to ends anti-queer violence both in the debate space and outer space. Until we imagine how queer futures exist in the cosmos, we will never fully understand how we recreate anti-queer violence on Earth. Orienting your ballot around the aff is key to challenge the reproductive normative futures through imagination. Oman-Reagan, 15
Michael P. Oman-Reagan is a social scientist, artist, activist, and zen practitioner in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. Oman-Reagan is a co-founder of The People’s Library, the library of the Occupy Wall Street social movement in New York City. He serves on the advisory boards for METI International and the Astrosociology Research Institute, is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Committee, and was a founding board member of the JustSpace Alliance (2018-20). He founded Wind Island Sangha, in British Columbia, Canada. After completing B.A. degrees in four-field Anthropology and Religion he earned an M.A. degree and Ph.D. candidacy in Cultural Anthropology. His PhD research as a Vanier Scholar examined human relations with Earth and space through the search for life in astrobiology and SETI. Library Journal named him a Mover and Shaker in 2012. He is an alumnus of AFS Intercultural Programs (Nykøbing Falster, Denmark), Reed College (biology and philosophy), Pacific Northwest College of Art (contemporary theory and printmaking), the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship at Universitas Negeri Malang (East Java, Indonesia), Hunter College of the City University of New York (Department of Anthropology B.A./M.A., Program in Religion B.A., and Thomas Hunter Honors Program B.A.), and Memorial University (P.h.D. candidacy, anthropology). Research Areas: Space, Futures, the Interstellar, Astrobiology, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Speculative Fiction, Social Movements, Activism, Social Media, New Religions. “Queering Outer Space.” SocArXiv, Open Science Framework. Manuscript, submitted January 22, 2017. osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/mpyk6/ JLeenhouts
Queerness has been discussed and debated …
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…pop up where they least expect us.