on that point, madam.

you know when you do something especially exciting or fun, and you think to yourself, "i really hope i remember everything about this when i'm older?" well that was tonight. nerd alert - we're talking politics and treaties... you were warned.

so around this time last week, i joined the literary and historical society. in essence, the debate club... it's actually super cool and not just for bookworms - they sponsor rockin' nights out in bars and bring in tons of awesome speakers that you can see. fo free. well tonight at 7 the good ol' l&h put on a debate about the lisbon treaty, a referendum that ireland is going to be voting for on oct 2. it's a HUGE deal - there are posters everywhere for both campaigns, yes or no, and people are very passionate about it. seeing as this isn't really breaking news in america, none of us know what exactly this treaty is about. kathleen and i decided it'd be a good way to get a little educated. perk: no reading long newspaper articles. so here it goes. this is the second time ireland is going to vote on the referendum, and they voted 'no' the first time. the treaty was signed in 2007 by the leaders of the 27 countries who are part of the european union, but it hasn't been ratified yet because the people of ireland previously voted 'no'. this second time around, there are significant changes and legally-binding guarantees on the big issues, all in hopes that irish citizens will feel more secure with the provisions of the agreement. basically, the 'yes' campaign feels that this will create a stronger ireland with jobs and a good economy, and will make the eu as a whole more democratic. a 'no' vote in the 'yes' campaign's eyes means that ireland doesn't really appreciate europe - they aren't especially committed. bad news. on the other hand, the 'no' campaign feels that this treaty will "militarize" the eu (and consequently ireland), will be a terrible idea economically, and will reduce ireland's power within the eu. the 'no' campaign also feels like this second referendum is just a way to bully the irish - they already voted no once, they don't want to have to go through the process again. (warning: these are just things that i gathered during the debate - they could very well be wrong or biased. i tried to keep it all straight, but just saying!)

so that's what the treaty is all about, but the actual debate is where the story's at! ohmygosh, i have never seen anything like this in my life! it was in one of the lecture halls and the place was packed to the brim. kathleen and i came in about 15 mins late, but luckily they hadn't started yet. we sat on the stairs in the back of the classroom - the perfect spot to watch it all go down. so the chairman of l&h is just a normal kid at ucd, probably my age, and is the moderator - he has a bell, introduces everyone, and sits in this plush chair on the side of the room. then there were the debaters. they were BIG shots, let me tell ya. one of them was the former president of the european parliament, there was another guy with a beard who was clearly a big deal, and two wayyy up-there professors. students also got to debate, and those guys were GOOD.

but quick clarification, debate means something very different here. there is no tom brokaw to moderate, and there is not really a question you answer. you have a topic, a speech you prepare, and you speak very quickly for 8 minutes. the kicker is, you do this while yelling at audience members (ie other students just chilling in the crowd) who are perfectly allowed to stand up and shout "on that point!" to try and prove that something you just said is wrong. the typical response by the debater is "no, thank you" and to just keep rattling off their speech. but as the debate got going, "no, thank you" turned into "don't you dare interrupt me" and "sit the hell down and get your facts straight." wow, alright. my personal fave was when one big shot said to another, "on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the greatest, what chance is there that we'll get kicked out of the union if we vote no on lisbon?" to which the reply was, "on a scale of 1 to 10, it's a fuck off." haha i died!!!

so aside from loving the craziness of it all, i was just in awe of how passionate people were about the debate. these extremely well-educated and respected people - doctors, ex-presidents of parliament, party leaders - were literally blue in the face from screaming at each other. and they all had excellent arguments and points to make. i couldn't tell ya who won, or if this was even about winning. all i know is that it was a great thing to see, and something i'll always (hope to) remember! so on that note, gute nacht! and i'll let ya know if i ever recover my cool factor, seeing as it pretty much just plummeted to the ground with this little diddy...