Is college worth it anymore?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is college worth it anymore?". Your opponent's style: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Animal based diet is the best diet for human health

You're wildly oversimplifying. An animal-based diet works for some people, but "best" for *everyone*? That's just false. Populations with the longest lifespans eat mostly plants—Mediterranean diets, Blue Zones in Okinawa. Meat consumption correlates with heart disease and certain cancers [1]. Sure, you get bioavailable nutrients from animal products, but you can get everything you need from plants if you're thoughtful about it. The real issue is *which foods*, not whether they're animal or plant. A diet of processed meat and refined carbs destroys you. So does vegan junk food. But calling animal-based "best" ignores decades of epidemiological data showing plant-forward diets consistently win on longevity and disease prevention. What's your actual evidence beyond anecdotes?

Blue zones have been completely debunked, and obviously not every diet can work for everyone in the exact same way, but for the general population an animal based diet with little to no processed foods would be hugely beneficial, also the meat being linked with cancer is epidemiology not science, once again you know this is an annoying argument to make but I could say ice cream sales correlate to sunburn rates. And you can’t get everything you need from plants plants don’t have vitamin A because beta carotene must be converted, no creatine, taurine, and I could go on, also my evidence is that if you look at tribes like the Maasai and Inuit even without much fiber or really much plant matter at all they are remarkably healthy, even if you look at cavemen populations that fed on megafauna they were tall, well developed, and overall healthy compared to that to today and majority of people are not well developed and are unhealthy, also the first case of atherosclerosis was recorded in Egypt where they had very grain heavy diets

You're cherry-picking healthy populations and ignoring why they're healthy. The Maasai move constantly, the Inuit have genetic adaptations from thousands of years in extreme conditions—that's not replicable for sedentary Americans eating feedlot beef. Your beta-carotene argument collapses instantly: conversion efficiency is fine for most people, and you can supplement. Creatine and taurine? Synthesizable or negligible if you eat diverse plants. You're listing micronutrient gotchas, not proving superiority. And "cavemen were tall"? We don't actually know their health outcomes. They died at 35. Modern hunter-gatherers eating mixed diets outlive them massively. Your Egypt atherosclerosis claim needs a source. Sounds fabricated. Even if true, it's one data point versus centuries of epidemiology. Why cherry-pick exceptions instead of looking at *populations that actually live longest*?

Ok I’m not saying that Americans should eat feedlot cows or be sedentary I never said either of those things you should be eating grass fed grass finished regenerative animals, also what hunter gatherers that is so vague at least I could provide specific tribes (https://www.acc.org/about-acc/press-releases/2011/04/05/16/22/mummies) this is the mummy with atherosclerosis, and they had very grain heavy diets which modern people consider to be healthy, also cavemen didnt die at thirty five it was very common for them to live to their sixties if they didn’t get killed by an outside force like disease or animals

You're moving goalposts. "Animal-based is best" became "grass-fed regenerative is best"—suddenly requirements appeared. Most Americans can't afford that consistently. That's not a diet plan, it's a luxury. Your mummy link doesn't prove grain caused atherosclerosis. Ancient Egyptians also dealt with infection, parasites, stress—confounding variables everywhere. You're doing exactly what you accused me of: cherry-picking one data point. And cavemen to 60? Only if they survived childhood infections. Median lifespan was brutal. Modern people with plant-forward diets routinely hit 90 healthy. Bottom line: you need grass-fed, regenerative, unprocessed animal products at premium prices. Most people need affordable nutrition that works. Plants scale. Your diet doesn't.

Well I’m not trying to make a point about people being able to afford minimally processed meats my point is that it’s a healthy food, also my point was with the mummy is that it’s not a modern disease related to meat and saturated fat consumption like some claim. Also people aren’t surviving to 90 because of a plant based diet it’s because now we have medicine and insane methods to keep people alive even if they’re brain dead or practically dead already

Fair point on affordability—that's separate. But you're still wrong on the core claim. Your mummy proves nothing. Ancient Egypt had grain, yes, but also rampant infection, poor water, malnutrition. Atherosclerosis appeared because of *those* conditions, not because grains are inherently dangerous. You can't isolate one variable from thousands of years ago. And longevity isn't just medicine keeping corpses alive. Healthy 80-year-olds hiking, working, living independently—that's real. Mediterranean populations on plant-heavy diets show this *before* modern medicine intervened heavily. They aged better, not just longer. You haven't shown animal-based is "best"—you've shown it *works*. Those are different claims.