Debate Official Quotes in Thumbsucker (2005)

[Justin begins his first real debate]

Debate Official: Okay, today's topic for spar is the media, with an emphasis on TV violence. Elise Burns.

Debater Elise - 'TV Violence Kills Morality': It's just sick. TV violence kills moralitiy, particularly amongst teens. The studies prove it. Day after day, kids watch shows with gunshots. And the next thing you know, someone's dead.

Debater Mark - 'Whatever, Speedfreak': Television is a Trojan horse in our homes. It claims to give us education and entertainment, but it really just takes the imaginations of today's youth hostage in the process.

Debater Kate - 'Accountability Needs to Be Enforced.': Yeah, I agree. I mean, Media conglomerates say they want to change, but it's all double talk. I mean, accountability needs to be forced.

Debater Mark - 'Whatever, Speedfreak': I concur, but let's go further. TV contributes to the decay of the American family. And once the family goes... down goes our institutions and up goes our drug abuse. Ditto gambling and pornography.

Justin Cobb: You have no evidence to support that claim.

[the debaters pause]

Justin Cobb: Images aren't reality. Violence in art goes back to Egypt. What's important is teaching people to be skeptical. To draw a line. To distinguish between images and life. Lisa, what's your opinion?

Debater Lisa - 'You're Right. TV's Not Real': Well, you're right. TV's not real.

Debater Mark - 'Whatever, Speedfreak': Hold on. Reality is not the point here. Social decline is.

Justin Cobb: Kate, reaction?

Debater Kate - 'Accountability Needs to Be Enforced.': Oh, no, go, ahead.

Justin Cobb: Mark, I understand the spirit of your refutation. But society and its coneption of reality are inextricable.

[Justin wins the debate from the silence of the other debaters]