Tom Sequitur dragged himself into his 7th period US History class with a tired gaze on his face. Like usual, Tom could barely wait for the end of school especially since today was a Friday. Images of the weekend soon to come rushed through his head taking the place of all the equations he had just remembered from physics. As Tom tiredly lowered himself into his graffiti covered wood desk, his best friend Adam Hominem walked across the room to take the seat next to him.
“Dude, this weekends going to be great. Did you hear Ryan Herring is throwing a huge party Saturday” asked Adam.
“Yeah, I can’t wait. I just hope Mr. McReason doesn’t give us any homework over the weekend” replied Tom.
Just then Mr. McReason strolled into the room carrying his usual pile of books.
“Good day class, I thought since we have been going over colonial politics, today we could apply our knowledge to recent topics.”
Thinking this was nothing more than another impediment between him and his weekend Tom let out a moan.
“Well, Tom, if you would like you could write a paper about the similarities and differences between colonial and modern politics.”
“No, that’s ok, this discussion sounds like fun” tom sarcastically replied.
“Ok, if Tom is done, we can begin. I thought we could start with the topic of the Iraq War. Does anyone have any thoughts? I’ll try my hardest not to make any comments”
Almost instantly Pat Premises hand shot up into the air.
“Pat this is an open discussion, there’s no need for you to raise your hand.” said Mr. McReason
“Oh sorry, my mistake, well personally I think that because Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein is a known evil dictator we have to subdue him and his regime.”(False or Vague Premise)
“Come on, Pat you don’t know that, your just a stuck up conservative. You have no idea what’s going on.”(Ad Hominem) Adam quickly shouted.
“Now, now Adam, this is a class discussion. There’s no need for that. Give me your demerit card. I’m sorry for that interruption, we can begin again.” said Mr. McReason
“Well, I think since the terrorist who attacked us were Muslims and most of the population of Iraq is Muslim we have to invade Iraq.”(Non-Sequitur) said Tom Sequitur.
“We have to be in Iraq because we have to be there, it’s that simple.”(Begging the Question) stated Frank Begging.
“Ha, you’re all wrong if you think we should be in Iraq, why don’t you go there yourself!”(Red Herring) yelled Ryan Herring.
“NO, you’re wrong!”
“NO, you are!”
“Shut up! Tom”
With the class shouting at each other, Mr. McReason jumped out of his chair and ran to the center of the room.
“Come on guy’s, that’s enough for today. I can not believe you are so uncivilized. Now I want you all to give me your demerit cards.” yelled Mr. McReason.
Right then the bell sounded and along with the rest of the class Tom handed in his demerit card and left the class room.
“Wow, I can’t believe our class is so wild.” Tom said to Adam.
“Yeah, I know. But hey, at least it’s the weekend.” answered Adam.
False
or Vague Premise- In the short story, Pat Premise makes the argument that
because a) Iraq has weapons of mass destruction b) Saddam Hussein is an evil
dictator therefore c) America should invade Iraq. Although the second premise
is a pretty solid statement and the conclusion itself is debatable, the first
statement has no real evidence to back it up. Therefore the first premise is
false.
Ad Hominem- Adam attacks Pat for being a conservative and doesn’t
actually make any point. So Adam is attacking the person and not the point the
person is making.
Non-Sequitur-
Tom uses a two premises that are true, a) the
terrorist involved in 9-11 were Islamic and b) most of
Begging
the Question- Frank’s argument that we have to be in
Red
Herring- By telling his classmates to go fight in