Balloon debate
A balloon debate is a debate in which a number of speakers attempt to win the approval of an audience. The audience is invited to imagine that the speakers are flying in a hot-air balloon which is sinking and that someone must be thrown out if everyone is not to die.
Each speaker has to make the case why they should not be thrown out of the balloon to save the remainder. Typically each participant speaks on behalf of a famous person, profession, fictional character, etc.[1] Other perilous situations may take the place of the sinking balloon, for example, a shipwrecked raft, or a nuclear bunker. This form of debate is often engaged in by secondary schools.[2]
Modern television has adopted the style, with individuals making their own cases. The first of this genre is probably the Big Brother format of reality television series.[3] It is also used in English GCSE courses.
Characters such as Mother Teresa, Mao Zedong, Mahatma Gandhi, Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Pele, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Wernher von Braun, Ludwig van Beethoven, Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Savile and Vincent Van Gogh are often used if the speaker's assignment is toward a famous character.
[edit] References
- ^ Sather, Trevor (1999). Pros and Cons: A Debater's Handbook. Taylor & Francis. p. 10. ISBN 9780415195485.
- ^ Davis, Paul; Barbara Garside, Mario Rinvolucri (1999). Ways of Doing: Students Explore Their Everyday and Classroom Processes. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 9780521585590.
- ^ Gray, Chris (18 August 2000). "Most hated man in Britain is found guilty - of breaking the rules of a television gameshow". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/most-hated-man-in-britain-is-found-guilty--of-breaking-the-rules-of-a-television-gameshow-711146.html. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
