Module 2: Section C
Right Back at You
Refutations
Imagine yourself as a boxer. When you train, you practice attacking and blocking. Defense is important because you can't win the fight with offense alone: you need to keep your guard up and dodge your opponent's blows. Just as in the boxing ring, in the persuasive ring you need to have a good defense too. Your defense is called REFUTATION. In boxing, you are able to dodge and block by anticipating your opponent's next move. In refutation, you anticipate your opponent's arguments and knock them down, disabling them before he has the chance to hit you with them.
In the tutorial, when Ryan was developing his thesis, Mrs. Walker instructed him to identify the opposition's thesis and main points. Let's look back at those again now:
Ryan's Opposition's Thesis and Support Points:
The town should tear down the old library rather than attempting to preserve it.
- The old library is structurally unsound and dangerous to people who go there.
- A new building in that place could attract new businesses and jobs for the towns' people.
- The old library is ugly and outdated; putting a new building there would beautify the town.
Ryan figured out the opposition's next move, what they might say. Now he has to disarm his opponent by blocking these shots. Listen to the way Ryan might handle the first point.
How might Ryan refute his opponent's second point?
Click the answer button below to see what Ryan said.
Furthermore, those opposed to renovating the old library believe that building a new structure could attract new business and provide jobs. Unfortunately, building a fancy building does not guarantee new businesses will come, this not the Field of Dreams. What if you build it and they don't come? Then a great deal of money has been lost along with an important part of our town's heritage.
How might Ryan refute his opponent's third point?
Click the answer button below to see what Ryan said.
