(no subject)
My calls for this week:
Debate #2
Winner - brainlesswonder
I felt that Chuck used a weaker argument based more on emotion than anything else. Had he cited the success rate that many of these other countries, such as Yemen, Jordan, Indonesia, and Pakistan, have had at foiling terror plots, he may have done much better.
Debate #3
Winner - imaybeparanoid
I've never been a fan of the guilt by association fallacy, and lovecrafty employed that one right off the bat. However, that's not what threw my vote here. Lovecrafty provided numerous statistics as evidence of correlation, but nothing showing causation. Imaybeparanoid's refutation, though short, was effective in casting significant doubt on the majority of Lovecrafty's argument.
Debate #4
Winner - badlydrawnjeff
I had the most difficulty picking a winner in this debate. Both participants laid out and defended their arguments well. From an objective standpoint, they both offered what seemed like workable solutions to a problem. Princessmerbear seemed to abandon her original argument toward the end, which was enough to shift the momentum to her opponent. It was a very close call though.
Debate #5
Winner - the_sicilian
Debate #6
Winner - colintj
Killtacular's primary argument was that the events in Lebanon would not spill over into other ME states, and that it was not related to other recent regime changes in the area. Colin hit the nail on the head with his closing argument that US foreign policy has effectively weakened the regimes in the area, in my opinion.
Debate #7
Winner - skaloop
If I could, I'd give this one an incomplete. My vote goes to skaloop, as he did an adequate job of countering what was a somewhat ambiguous opening argument from mrexcess.
Debate #8
Winner - somnambulisa
Wow, that was almost too much to sift through. If Cargill had stuck to the theme of the third sentence of his rebuttal, the outcome may have been different. However, his argument was self-contradictory at times, and did not sufficiently refute the initial argument.
Also, the schedule has been updated with this week's current events topics.
Debate #2
Winner - brainlesswonder
I felt that Chuck used a weaker argument based more on emotion than anything else. Had he cited the success rate that many of these other countries, such as Yemen, Jordan, Indonesia, and Pakistan, have had at foiling terror plots, he may have done much better.
Debate #3
Winner - imaybeparanoid
I've never been a fan of the guilt by association fallacy, and lovecrafty employed that one right off the bat. However, that's not what threw my vote here. Lovecrafty provided numerous statistics as evidence of correlation, but nothing showing causation. Imaybeparanoid's refutation, though short, was effective in casting significant doubt on the majority of Lovecrafty's argument.
Debate #4
Winner - badlydrawnjeff
I had the most difficulty picking a winner in this debate. Both participants laid out and defended their arguments well. From an objective standpoint, they both offered what seemed like workable solutions to a problem. Princessmerbear seemed to abandon her original argument toward the end, which was enough to shift the momentum to her opponent. It was a very close call though.
Debate #5
Winner - the_sicilian
Debate #6
Winner - colintj
Killtacular's primary argument was that the events in Lebanon would not spill over into other ME states, and that it was not related to other recent regime changes in the area. Colin hit the nail on the head with his closing argument that US foreign policy has effectively weakened the regimes in the area, in my opinion.
Debate #7
Winner - skaloop
If I could, I'd give this one an incomplete. My vote goes to skaloop, as he did an adequate job of countering what was a somewhat ambiguous opening argument from mrexcess.
Debate #8
Winner - somnambulisa
Wow, that was almost too much to sift through. If Cargill had stuck to the theme of the third sentence of his rebuttal, the outcome may have been different. However, his argument was self-contradictory at times, and did not sufficiently refute the initial argument.
Also, the schedule has been updated with this week's current events topics.