SUNY Geneseo Department of Computer Science

Countering Objections to Your Argument

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Misc

Final exam

• Tuesday, May 13, 12:00 noon
• Comprehensive, but emphasizing material since midterm (e.g., Enigma, Breaking the Code, research and outside sources, etc.)
• Designed for 2 hours, you’ll have 3
• Otherwise similar to midterm, expecially open-book, notes, computer
• Donuts and cider

Furlough days

• I won’t be available...
• Thursday, May 8 and Wednesday May 14

SOFIs

• aka “student opinion of faculty instruction”
• Useful to me, especially any comments
• Online form via Knightweb
  • Click “Surveys” button, then “SOFI survey”

Questions?

Dealing with Objections

They Say, I Say chapter 6

• Acknowledging and addressing objections actually makes your case stronger

They Say, I Say drug policy exercise

• Many people believe that the illegalization of drugs is beneficial to both decreasing crime rate and increasing the general health of society. However, this may not be the case because illegalization creates a black market that the justice system cannot maintain, leading to more violent actions taken by those who are involved. When there’s demand for product in a black market, there is no regulation. This leads to the potential for the drugs to become tainted and increasingly hazardous to the health of the consumer. If drugs were regulated and properly labeled, at least the users would have an idea of what they were putting in their body.
  • Addresses an objection that is plausibly “out there” among people reading this essay, and therefore likely to be an important one to face.
• For example, some people believe that marijuana should stay illegal due to the effect it has on people. Some of the population feels this way due to their own past experiences and happening in their lives. They need to consider though, that the illegal sale of marijuana is a major fund for multiple drug sale operations on the black market that affect people’s lives on a much larger scale. It would make more sense for the drug to be legalized so that it is less helpful to drug lords selling major substances such as cocaine and heroin.
  • Addresses an objection that arose from this particular group. Addressing your own objections to your argument is certainly worth doing.
• Nevertheless, those with conservative views will probably suggest otherwise and argue that drug policy should be kept strict. Others believe that drug control should be implemented through the criminal justice system. However, the costs of putting petty criminals in prison would be too substantial to maintain for a problem that probably won’t go away. Others may say that there needs to be additional solutions for more severe drug use than marijuana, but there are ignoring the fact that drug users will not change their habits if they do not want to.
  • Given more time, this is a nice counter-argument because of the facts and data it can cite: costs of imprisoning petty drug criminals, outcomes of harm-reduction programs in other countries, etc.
• Some opponents might object, stating that marijuana can lead to an increase in the crime rate and create more dangerous conditions, as more individuals would commit crimes in order to obtain the drug that they want. However, if it were legalized, there would be legislation created regarding its use, satisfying its users, but proposing certain conditions for use. This may lead to a decrease in the crime rate.
• On the contrary, this new approach to solving the drug safety issue will take a long period of time. Change in our country is oftentimes a struggle that takes time for everyone to accept. United States society has grown upon the fact that the people have a say no matter if it’s logical or not. This being said, there would always be a negative response to these changes. However, this view on a drug safety change is a dangerous one because the current policy is so inefficient. Money and time are being wasted almost every day to no end because the policy is shown to be ineffective in reaching its original goals. If we take the time to develop a policy that we know will work, we will save the time and effort of so many people working for no purpose.

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Peer critiques of Breaking the Code essays