The 63rd Spark Club Meeting：Destiny

Posted 2021-04-27 北京联合大学留学服务

Debate Topic:

“Is your destiny decided by society, or by yourself?”

Talk about a deep topic for a debate, destiny....

Our fearless Thememaster Ricardo guided us into these philosophical waters, I think he must enjoy giving us a good challenge! Regardless of the formal outcome of the debate, I am sure that all of us who participated learned something from this discussion. So, let’s recall what happened....

Surprise Topics Session

We had many new members joining our club last night, and one member who came back to see us on one of her few days off from her job! It is always a pleasure to meet new people, and also heartwarming to see that we are not forgotten by members whose lives are getting busy outside of school.

So, we welcomed Amy back after more than 2 months of hard work in the hotel industry. Also, had the pleasure of starting to get to know Joanne, Amber G, and Charmaine, who are all Finance majors. In addition, we got some expert debating advice from our new members Jasper and Cherish, who joined the debate at the first meeting they attended!

 

In the picture above, we see Surprise Topics Master Steven guiding Amber G and Jasper to try to get their “daughter” (played by Joanne) to focus on her studies instead of wasting her time trying to become a professional gamer. 

Debate Session

Negative Team (from left: Amy, Cherish, and George)

Tasked with the challenging mission of convincing us that our destiny is in fact primarily decided by ourselves, the negative team used their wits and research to attack the affirmative team’s stance. Some high-lights included pointing out the fact that great leaders and heroes usually rise to prominence at the darkest of times. These heroes’ destiny were not decided by the bleak outlook of the day, instead they managed to make their own destiny. In addition, from a personal perspective, even if you are born into a good family and are given all the opportunities in the world, you can still mess it all up by being lazy. 

Affirmative Team (From left: Steven, Skye, and Jasper)

The affirmative team expertly laid out their arguments to convince us that our destiny is in primarily decided by society. Some of their more potent arguments included pointing out the fact that opportunities are highly related to the times you happen to be born in. Today we take it for granted that we have some power to decide our careers and lives, but these choices are strongly constrained by society. It is impossible to be a leader in the CCP unless your parents have the right background, for example. And it is impossible to become the president of the United States if you are not born on American soil and under 35 years old. So, the idea that you can choose your destiny is just an illusion, albeit a comforting one. 

Evaluation Session

Being a great evaluator and Adjudicator takes great concentration and dedication. Here we see Winnie still being able to pull out a smile for the camera, but don’t be fooled into thinking that she was not working hard!

Eric Phoenix shouldered the responsibility of adjudicating the debate tonight, and due to his careful preparation he was able to deliver a highly convincing RFD (Reason For Decision) speech, where he clearly pointed out why he thought the debate went in favor of the Affirmative Team this time. 

This week’s outstanding performers were:

Best Debater: Steven

Best Surprise Topic Speaker: Amber G

Best Function Role (Timer): Thomas

Best Evaluator (Surprise topics Evaluator): Winnie

Winning Debate Team: Affirmative Team (Steven, Jasper, and Skye)

Meeting Notes Hero: Thomas图满志