One thing I learned in this chapter was about refuting arguments. In other words, proving that an argument is WRONG. One way you can prove that an argument is wrong is doing it directly. Every time I’m with my dad, he always tells me that my favorite show of all time, Glee, is horrible. He tells me a bunch of things like, the actors are too old to portray high school students (1), they use too controversial story lines that kids should not watch (2), and their music sounds like it’s been overdosed on auto-tune (3). Therefore, he thinks I shouldn’t watch it. I can’t let this pass because I HAVE to defend my favorite show.
The book states that there are 3 ways to prove an argument wrong in the direct way:
“Show that at least one of the premises is dubious.”
“Show that the argument isn’t valid or strong”
“Show that the conclusion is false”
I can say that the first premise is dubious because his views of how high school students look is different from my point of view and perspective. The argument isn’t strong or valid. The conclusion could be made false because of the ambiguity of the premises.
You can also prove and argument wrong indirectly. This is when you “can’t point to any one premise that is false or dubious, but you know there’s something wrong with the premises.”
Referring to the example above, my dad is saying that I shouldn’t watch the show Glee because of the premises he mentioned. He complains the cast is too old to portray high school students. There are a lot of other shows I can name that have an even older looking cast portraying high school students. Plus, how is it that the creators and casting directors will be able to find people who are cooperative enough to work 14 hours shifts every single week? Certainly not any 15-18 year old, that’s for sure. In that age group, people are bound to complain of tiredness. On top of that, they would still need to complete some sort of high school education. If they have to do that, their recording schedules will be completely messed up. Therefore, they use OLDER actors and actresses to portray high school students because this would stir away from these problems.
All in all, this premise is a pretty absurd way of arguing that a show shouldn’t be watched. Sorry, I just love Glee a lot. :3
hellosss, cvgotsoul!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog posts. They are always fun and very enjoyable. I like how you set up your discussion it makes it easier for me to read. Also I agree with you that there are other shows that adults portraying high school students which the high school students look way older than the Glee show cast. The example right now I think of is Vampire Diaries. The girl in that show is supposedly in high school. But when looking at her you could tell she is way older than a "high school student." But yeah great job to point out the excessive filming and production time needed to make shows and movies. So a normal high school student will not be able to accomplish it along with the pursue of their high school degree. GREAT JOB! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! :]
[ellacomm]
Hey there! I like this long nice post. The example of that you use for the direct way is very relatable to me as well. My dad always question what I am watching like One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl. He doesn’t care too much or comment about Glee. He is always wondering why the high school casted kids are so old looking and sometimes I wonder as well. But really I know it is because there are not a lot of actors and actresses in that age group. I like how you lay out the three ways to prove the argument wrong. It is very helpful to see how the argument can be shown wrong by these three ways. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I also like Glee! Glee is such a great show with all the singing and dancing. I also agree with your dad that the actors and actresses seemed a little bit too old to play high school students, but they look close to it. I agree with Cyyntthhia that the actors and actresses in Gossip Girls look way beyond their high school years. I also agree in your argument that there are stories where kids shouldn't be watching, but that's why they have the ratings on the top right hand corner of what the appropriate age is. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHey there cvgotsoul! I can really tell you love Glee! ;) So, I love how you organized your post by introducing your argument, stating how to directly refute an argument, evaluating the argument, then introducing how to indirectly refute an argument, and finally evaluating that. For the indirect part of your post, I love your example because I was honestly a bit confused with it’s definition of “can’t point to any one premise that is false or dubious, but you know there’s something wrong with the premises.” I agree that 15-18 year olds wouldn’t want to work 14 hour shifts every day of the week because I already know that 8 hour shifts can be so tiring…and that is why older people act out the high school students in Glee. Reading your example has made me completely understand how to indirectly refute an argument.
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