Spreading Kritik Mississippi State University: Fast speaking may adversely affect more than just the students

ability to take notes. For example, research has consistently shown that listening comprehension suffers as speaking rate increases The studies show that as we increase our rate of speed while speaking our ability to process and understand the information put before us is detrimentally effected. Link 1: Lincoln-Douglas Debate is an educational exercise in rhetoric, meant to benefit the understanding of not just the judges, but all teams as well, as few things teaches better than to test an idea as thoroughly as possible. This is the entire Reason of debate as a concept. Internal Link: Spreading demonstratively obliterates this rationale, as can be seen by the Mississippi State Studies.
Link 2: As a nontrivial plurality of active debaters are in pursuit of a career relating to the legal field, debate has often been touted as a means of practicing and honing the rhetorical and cognitive skills they will need in the field of choice. Internal Link: Spreading doesn't happen in the real world- spreading /only/ happens in competitive debate. Internal Link: As its practicality only exists in the isolated reality of competitive debate, and as it demonstratively deteriorates cognitive ability and rhetorical abilities, spreading derails the oft-touted benefits of debate, making it an /absolutely useless ability/ Impact: Losing the reason for Lincoln Douglas Debate is a much more terminal consequence than the hypothetical destruction of the entire economy/human race/ecosystem/planet/solar system/universe/what have you. Internal Link: All impacts listed by the opposing team are founded on the assumption that a hypothetical action taken by a hypothetical agent will have effects on a hypothetical, /false reality/. Internal Link: What we are arguing has a direct, real effect right here, right now, between the three of us. And so long as the culture of spreading exists, will detrimentally affect every single individual that partakes in this activity.

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/robinson/danr/RSSR97.pdf