Humorous debate - December 2020 | Sylvan Debating Club

The Sylvan humorous debate considered the following motion:

This house believes that 2020 has been a hoax.

The debate took place on Monday, 7th December. Tony Koutsoumbos proposed the motion and Vaughan Evans opposed it.

The proposition supporting the view that 2020 has been a hoax

The proposer stated that if he found out that 2020 is a hoax, he’d be relieved! He shared the view of Elon Musk that we are likely already living in a simulation. Such a simulation in order to be believable cannot be too nice – in other words, it needs to have negative stuff to seem real. We know all of the conspiracy theories: the Royals are alien reptiles sent to rule us, there were secret suitcases full of votes in Georgia, etc. The Russians are meddling, if only just to see how far they can get. QAnon and baby eating royals and illuminati. But really it was all Huawei all the time! 5G explains everything that has happened this year!! (Toilet paper addiction can’t be real!)

The opposition against the motion

The opposer disagreed in the strongest possible terms. 2020 has been as sane a year as any! There have been real hoaxes before. With Covid, China perpetrated the only real hoax that foreigners caused it. A trifle compared to bird flu, which was ‘murder most fowl’. Trump’s actions this year pale in comparison to 2011’s ‘birther’ controversy when he questioned Obama’s citizenship. A potential no-deal Brexit this year yet again compares mildly to the major hoax of the Brexit campaign and the infamous £350m figure. ‘When Boris makes a promise, he Brexits!’ Hoaxing is ingrained in global politics, and none of this is unusual.

Floor speeches from the audience of the humorous debate

Floor speeches delved into just a few more conspiracy theories than usual. Amazon and Zoom plotted Covid to increase their world domination, of course. 2020 is a repeating number which can’t be trusted, especially a double ‘score’. Even Nostradamus foretold 2020 ushering in a new era with disasters and revelations. Suddenly grown men have started baking and taking long walks in the countryside! The world seems only to exist through screens, which can’t be real. Pubs are empty, ditto.

Some couldn’t fathom positive developments such as Trump’s loss as a hoax, and others wished 2020 were a hoax, but felt it all too realistically. Cancel culture came to the fore – a coincidence or another hoax? 2020 may be a hoax set on purpose to force humanity to work together. We have to hope that the Covid vaccine is not a hoax!

Result: in the final vote, the humorous debate motion was defeated

The Sylvans concluded through the humorous debate that 2020 has not, in fact, been a hoax!

See information on other Sylvan debates here.

In this humorous debate, the Sylvans considered whether 2020 was a hoax, concluding that unfortunately the year 2020 was all too real!