Aff Starter Pack – Search for mh370

The design of this document

I view this document less as a standard debate file – and more of an opening teaching resource.

• 
  Michael McGrath, Georgetown University
  
• 
  Margaret Strong, Michigan State University
  
• 
  Tyler Thur, Michigan State University
  

Again, feel free to drop me a line if you have questions.

Will Repko

repkowil@msu.edu

Things that might interest you

We wanted to write a starter Aff with these goals in mind:

• 
  Would the Aff teach this topic ?... We sought something that would access ocean-specific advantage areas that might be unfamiliar to students. We think SLOC’s, nuclear waste shipments, tsunamis, overfishing and other modules all get at this.
  

• 
  Does the Aff intersect with a contemporary political question or current event ?.. That seems consistent with a “DC-vibe” that (at least for me) has always been part of the Georgetown Debate Seminar.
  

Throw in a little mystery and a conspiracy theory or two about the flight, and you have something that is a little offbeat and interesting. If you’d like to read some odd conspiracy theories about MH370, consider checking out:

• 
  Next week, we’ll release the Neg packet. Look for some new Aff cards to emerge in the “Aff Answers” section of those files. Apologies for any confusion.
  

• 
  If students want to get a jump start before camp, they may want to think about how they would design their own 1AC.
  

Lastly, this 1AC is very modular (many plan text options, many advantage twists) – and students shouldn’t try to fit them all into a 1AC. There will be lots of practice debates and you should try and mix up what you run in the 1AC. As you do, you’ll be learning more and more about the topic.

Plan text options

Why have 10 different plan texts to choose from ?...

An exercise to consider:

First – Try and figure out the differences between the following 10 plan texts.
Specifically try and figure out the *strategic differences* by figuring out which plan texts give certain kinds of ground to the Negative.
… we will use these ten plan texts to discuss topicality and also to discuss tips when writing plan texts on your own Aff.
Second – think about which plan text you would settle upon and why.
… it is also possible to write your own plan text – if none of these ten work for you.

Glossary of terms that appear in various plan texts

Background info:

As you have very likely heard, a flight called MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 8^th, 2014. It was headed for Beijing. It has never been located.

Many countries were involved in the initial search for MH370 – including the United States. The Aff argues that when the US was involved in the search, it used technology that was inadequate for the task. It specifically used technology that could not search at the great depths of the Indian Ocean. The Aff also argues that –as the search moved from days to months – the US has significantly decreased it commitment to finding the plane.
The “goal’ of the Aff is to have the US resume its commitment to the search… and to use better technology the 2^nd time around.

Terms in the plan texts that you need to know:

MH370:
The “MH” in “MH370” stands for “Malaysia Airlines”. “MH” is the designator code assigned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to “Malaysia Airlines”. Such two-letter codes are assigned to all of the world's airlines. 370 is the flight #.
Orion:
Suppose a search and rescue operation is divided into two parts:

• 
  Part One – searching/mapping the general area for the plane and;
  
• 
  Part Two – once there’s a possible “hit”, diving deep in the Ocean for a closer look. This may mean taking an up-close look at debris that is potentially related to (or has clues regarding) Flight MH 370.
  

…Orion is the Part One. It is a US Navy-owned towed side scan sonar system. This means Orion is placed on the side of a vessel on the ocean and it uses sonar to determine the location and depth of objects. FWIW, the word “sonar” is originally an acronym for “SOund Navigation And Ranging” and it is a technique that uses sound to detect objects

CURV-21:
CURV is the 2^nd part. It is an acronym standing for “Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle-21”. CURV is a Remotely Operated Vehicle (an underwater drone) that can go to great depths.

Orion and CURV-21 can be combined into a single integrated search & recovery system.

Plan text options

Plan Option #1:
The United States federal government should expand efforts to locate MH Flight 370.
Plan Option #2:
The United States federal government should expand efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by

deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 search and recovery system.

Plan option #3:
The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration of the Earth’s oceans by deploying the Orion sonar search system in tandem with the Curv 21 vehicle for MH Flight 370.
Plan option #4:
The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration of the Earth’s oceans by deploying the Orion sonar search system in tandem with the Cable-controlled Undersea Recovery Vehicle-21 for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Plan option #5:
The United States Navy should expand efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 search and recovery system.
Plan Option #6:
The United States Navy should expand efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 system on a non-military search and recovery mission.
Plan Option #7:
The United States federal government should expand efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 system on a non-military search and recovery mission.
Plan Option #8:
The United States federal government should substantially increase efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 system for a non-military search of the Indian Ocean.
Plan Option #9:
The United States federal government should substantially increase efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 system on a non-military mission by expanding the search area to include the Southern Ocean.
Plan Option #10:
The United States federal government should substantially increase efforts to locate MH Flight 370 by deploying the integrated Orion-CURV-21 system on a non-military mission by expanding the search area to include the South China Sea.

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