How to Run Secret Spec 3: Just the Facts
Catch up on the series:
You just ran your best offensive arguments against a version of the Plan the aff wouldn’t disavow. It’s easy to predict what comes next.
Sudden Advocacy
Rather than take a stand, the aff will scramble to disavow the Plans you came up with and retreat back into the fog.
The negative said we’d cause Nuclear War, my response is Smaller Countries. Sure, invading a nuclear power would probably be a mistake. But invading a smaller country like Morocco wouldn’t cause nuclear war. That’s what we actually support.
If the format allows, follow this up with another cross-ex using the exact same routine you used last time.
Step 3: Implied Kritik
This is the most delicate step. You have to strike a tone of calm confidence; too much and you sound condescending, too little and you sound whiny. To pull this off, you need to give the judge the facts about what happened without telling them what to do about it.
Run just the Violation part of the Kritik; let the judge fill in the blanks.
Here’s how that might look.
In cross-ex, my partner asked the affirmative to name which country we should invade. They said they support any country other than Canada. So we took them at their word and spent a third of our time in this debate arguing against invading China. Then they changed their minds and decided that now they don’t want you to invade China. Now, they want you to invade “a smaller country like Morocco.” So we’re going to explain why that is a bad idea. And if they come up with a new country in the next speech, we’ll argue against that, too. We’ll keep playing this little game of whack-a-mole as long as we can. And when it’s over, we hope you’ll see that the affirmative can’t come up with a single defensible Plan for this resolution. So here’s why we shouldn’t invade Morocco. I have two Backfires and a Disadvantage …
You’re not explicitly asking the judge to punish the affirmative for their behavior. You’re just laying it all out for the judge to see. Most important: you’re not explicitly explaining why ambiguity is a problem. You’re shining a spotlight on it; you’re exposing the impossibility of real debate by doing your best to create a back-and-forth and failing.
Even an untrained judge should be able to understand this; whether or not they do, pivot back to why the resolution is false so there’s nothing left for the affirmative to stand on.
Keep Restarting
When the aff disavows a position, don’t keep pushing on it. Just point out what happened, drop that entire part of the debate, and start over. This is the only way to ensure that the affirmative’s final speech won’t land, even if they pull out a brand new specification that you won’t have time to refute.
1AC: The judge should marry any of the villagers.
Neg in CX: Any of the villagers?
Aff in CX: Any except Jessica.
1NC: Judge, Sarah is a villager - and she’s a liar.
2AC: Okay, anyone but Jessica and Sarah.
Neg in CX: I’m giving you the floor: tell me all the other villagers you don’t want the judge to marry.
Aff in CX: Just Jessica and Sarah.
Neg Block: The aff said they supported Sarah earlier; now they don’t like her. So let’s talk about Emily. She smells weird.
1AR: Okay, actually we want the judge to marry Rebecca.
2NR: Great, we finally have a position. Rebecca is a spy.
2AR: In our final speech, we’d like to point out that Kate would make a wonderful bride.
Judge: I’m sure that if the negative had had time to respond, they could have defeated Kate, too. What a mess.
All the affirmative had to do to avoid this was give the judge a name.
Unspecified Affs are Freebies
Secret Spec takes you out of the undesirable position of pleading for the judge’s help while running no substantive resolutional arguments. Now, you can take your preferred route of full offense; you can show the judge how great the round could have been if the affirmative had participated. This creates a powerful contrast when they dodge away that is devastating to their rapport with the judge.
You can’t force affirmatives to be ambiguous. Most - especially if they’ve debated you before and learned their lesson - will do the work. They’ll build a Plan, specify it, and advocate for it. If they don’t, relax and enjoy the round. They’ve handed you an easy victory.
More Omni is around the corner. Stay tuned.