Squirrel Strategy

Squirrel Strategy is to use ideas so bizarre that they win since no one has any evidence to argue against it. Some examples of how people use the squirrel technique are below.

• The most popular way is too use them as a first affirmative. They are fun to use and drive negative teams crazy. They try to force the negative team either reading evidence that has nothing to do with the case or get them to surrender before they even read there first speech. An example would be saying fish is brain food so fish should be served in the cafeteria at least twice a week.

• The second strategy is too use squirrels to supplement the case. If part of there case is always open to attack they add a squirrel provision to patch it up. An example would be combining the Department of Health and Human Services with the Department of Education. While the neg can say how wasteful the Department of Education is how many people will have evidence on the helth and human services.

• The last tactic is for the neg to fill the 1NC with squirrel arguments. The the affirmative team uses its precious prep time looking for evidence to counter it. Now in the 2NC will use real and point taking arguments. Since the affirmative team has used most of its prep time they are at great disadvantage to answering all the neg arguments giving the neg a great chance at winning.

How to defeat squirrel arguments.

• Don't panic and give up! Just stay calm and think logically about what they are saying. Use common sense. If you know that you don’t have evidence to fight back with then whatever you do don’t waste your prep time.

• Use your speech to present arguments explaining how the case or argument is impossible, irrelevant, or too strange to even be considered. Instead of using evidence to prove that what they are saying is not true, use standards and debate rules to demonstrate how it doesn't fulfill the resolution or how it doesn't affect your case. It is a smart idea have a anti-squirrel topicality argument in emergencies like these. If you do this don’t try to use any evidence against the case. You want to show the judge that the case is so out there you don’t need to consider treating it like a real case and that the judge should not consider either.

• If you have no anti-squirrel file and can’t write anything against the other team then your pretty much dead. Your only chance is to out squirrel them. If you have a debate book look up squirrel cases or irrelevant arguments. Go to the podium with 100 sheets of paper with you and just use as much common sense and logic as you can. Stay calm and smiling and say as many ways that this would fail as you can. Think of every bogus reason and use it against them. If it gets ugly the judge will hopefully vote on whichever team looked the most confident and had the best speaking skills. Remember this is a long shot technique so I would suggest finding an alternative.