Ain't Miss Debatin'? I think she is!

Hello whoever might be out there,

I love debating, and I love Bob's Burgers. I think these two things more than qualify me to talk about why Tina Belcher is Miss Debatin'.

Debate has been a part of my life... officially since year 8 but realistically forever. With an argumentative spirit with a strong sense of justice, debate is everything I could've ever dreamed of. Getting my time to shine and ramble on about something uninterrupted for five minutes* was glorious, and I haven't stopped since that magical day in year 8 where I watched two English teachers pose a scripted debate about whether boys should be wearing skirts in schools.

One can only imagine my joy when I opened up Disney+ this very evening to see the next episode of Bob's Burgers on my watch through was Season 7 Episode 15: Ain't Miss Debatin'.

To summarise, a boy named Henry (who also featured on Season 5 Episode 12 as a candidate for class president) invites Tina on to the debate team as they have to have a girl on the team and the last one quit in favour of joining the spelling bee team. While trying to teach Tina the spirit of debate, Henry develops a crush and eventually starts dating Tina, despite how obvious it is that Tina does not feel the same way back. Through Tina finding her footing during a debate, fuelled by spite due to the lack of attention from Jimmy Jr's, they manage to make to to the final where they face off Kingshead school. It all spirals downhill as Tina falls for and ends up kissing a exchange student from New Zealand on the Kingshead team and she flunks the first speech, using it to instead break up with Henry, so surely they lost... right?

And this is why I believe that Tina Belcher is in fact "Miss Debatin'." They win. Tina delivers an amazing second speech that wins Wagstaff their first trophy for the trophy cabinet / tortoise tank.

A good debater has to be able to come back from the most tragic mistakes if they want to have any shot at winning, and while in Tina's case this may have been aided by equally as tragic first speeches from Kingshead, you have to give her some credit.

As an anxious year 9 at my first ever philosophy competition, I once stumbled over my words and accidentally insinuated that if vegans truly wanted to be sustainable, that we should all eat human meat instead. That in itself is a rabbit hole I shall have to dive down another time, but I stuck to my guns. I sat there in a room that literally looked like a room out of a fantasy story, being the only kid from a state school, trying to argue to a bunch of fee-paying snobby people that sustainability is more than avocado toast. The bravest thing you can do in a debate is stick to your guns, even if you know what you have said isn't completely accurate or representative of yourself or whichever view you are representing.

Tina Belcher does that. She crafts a witty but clever argument against the metric system. I would have adored to listen to the whole thing, because even though it is something she doesn't believe in, she manages to put herself into the mind of people who might think this way, and that is what debate is!

"We already have grams! They're called grandmas, and mine lives in Florida, thank you. And if she has to learn kilometres, she is going to get lost and never make it back to the condo."

She has the talent, I just really wish she had the confidence. I know the plotline had to stray into teen romance because well... it's Tina. But Tina had potential, and I really am glad they ultimately won because she spoke with such compassion and persuasion.

And she beat the rich school kids. I love it when that happens because I seem to struggle to achieve the same thing in the real world.

Tina Belcher the awkward teen you are. 

• Yours faithfully,

MD

* The debate format I am most familiar with is ESU MACE where I have always been the summary speaker, therefore my speech time is uninterrupted. I am also familiar with other forms of debate such as Oxford Parliamentary and MUN as well as philosophy competitions such as the Philosothon.