On 23rd October 2010, our school held a debate competition in the school hall. The competition was organized by the Debating Club and the motion was ‘celebrities deserve the right not to disclose their private lives and those who intrude others’ privacy should be condemned.’

The performance of the joining teams was impressive and they did their best in this competition. The affirmative team thought that celebrities should have their privacy protected under any circumstance. If the reporters got permission from the celebrities, they might reveal the interviewees’ personal matters in a truthful manner. However, deliberately intruding others’ privacy and releasing unauthorized personal details should be condemned because it is nothing but guilt.

The opposing team thought that celebrities should pay the price of being famous, and the cost is the other part of their lives that is usually concealed --- their privacy. It is inevitable for celebrities to become targets of the Paparazzi. The team added an old Chinese saying: you reap what you sow. They meant to say that those who bring them under the spotlights are the same people who help to make them more famous too. However, I thought a much more appropriate idiom should have been “Success comes at a price”.

The participants for both affirmative and opposing teams tried their best, but there was only one winner－the affirmative team. They let the audience understand a whole lot more on the celebrities’ side. They said, “Why can’t we try to put ourselves in others’ shoes for people whose privacy is intruded? What if everything you do appeared in newspapers, magazines or on television? ” These indeed impressed the adjudicators for higher marks. On the other hand, the opposing team stressed on the idea that had been brought up earlier about how celebrities are willing to reveal their private lives to the paparazzi for increased popularity. They ended by saying ‘celebrities can get what they long for and the sacrifice is worth it.’

After the competition, we asked some students for comments. They thought that it was a great competition. Everyone tried their best in this heated debate. The adjudicator described the competition as a great event for our school. He also said that it had been a close match between the two teams. We all thought it was a compliment.