Sample Debate #4

"Dirty" and pornography

CHARACTERS:
A) A parent.
B) Spouse of A.

Situation:
The daughter of A and B, has requested that her parents use their credit card to buy her an online account to a pornography web site (which she would repay them for). A likes the idea but B is against it.

Debate:

A: Well I'm fine with the idea.

B: What!? That's perverse. [Bias word invoked.]

A: So what if it is "perverse" ? [ Requesting completion of reasoning line.]

B: It's unhealthy. [Possibly an implied reason-line.]

A: What studies are you referring to? [Checking premises to verify the conclusion]

B: None. It's unhealthy for her soul I mean. [Turns out not necessarily to be a reason-line.]

A: Hmm. Sounds like you just made that up. Well what are the symptoms of a sick soul? [Questioning whether the sick-soul claim is even physical or actually meets the criteria of stating an effect on the daughter's desires.]

B: Low self-esteem. [This is a physical then. So this is relevant if true.]

A: So then what evidence do you have that viewing pornographic images causes low self-esteem? [Significance has been established, now the only question is of veracity.]

B: I don't know! It's just sick. [This is how most people will respond for a while. "It's just sick" is an incomplete reason-line and the cycle sometimes repeats.]