Until recently, popular entertainment intended for children—such as fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and movies—often contained dark, frightening themes alongside positive, optimistic ones. For example, in the original version of The Little Mermaid, by Hans Christian Andersen, the mermaid dies at the end of the story. In Disney's 1942 film Bambi, Bambi's mother is shot dead, Bambi himself is shot (though he survives), and Bambi's friend, Faline, narrowly escapes being torn to pieces by a pack of wild dogs.

The Dreamscape is an innovative new technology that allows the transfer of experiences from one person to another. For the purposes of this debate, experiences include both the visual and emotional aspects of the memory.

You are Macbeth, a Scottish Lord in the Middle Ages. You are renowned for your courage and military talent: indeed, you have recently crushed a rebellion against King Duncan by other Scottish Lords.

One night, while you are out on a walk, three witches appear to you in a flash of thunder and lightning, and tell you that you will become King. You tell your wife, Lady Macbeth, about this. She argues that you should murder King Duncan in his sleep when he comes to visit you in your castle next week, in order to become King and fulfil the witches’ prophecy.

For the purposes of this debate, 'hate speech' is a public statement by which a person, or a group of people, is severely threatened, insulted, or degraded based on characteristics such as their skin colour, national or ethnic origin, religious belief, or political views.

Some western liberal democracies (such as the UK, Ireland, Canada, Germany, and Denmark) have laws that make 'hate speech' a criminal offence. People whom the authorities believe have committed hate speech can be prosecuted for their actions (i.e., can be convicted of having committed a crime, and punished).