a guide to disadvantage debates

8/13/2019 A Guide to Disadvantage Debates

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DISADVANTAGESA Basic ApproachAlfred C. SniderUniversity of Vermont

DEFINITION: A disadvantage is an argument which states that if weadopted the policy of the other team (plan/counterplan) something bad

would result.

COMPONENTS:Name: what you want to call it in the debate.Thesis: basic story of how the argument goes, present it first if judge isunfamiliar with the argument.Link: reason(s) why adopting their policy would cause this to occur, talkabout why THEY are responsible for this.Internal Link: Other lines of argument needed to reach the impact.

Impact: what it is that is bad and will happen, and how bad it is.TYPES OF DISADVANTAGE SCENARIOS:Threshold: it either happens or it doesn't, all or nothing, example:pregnancy is a threshold event.Must show brink, uniqueness, hard to link, but big impact.Linear: something bad is happening, and opponents' policy makes it worseor makes it happen more, example: exposure to radiation is a linear event.No brink, no uniqueness, just unique link, easy to link, impact not as big.

STRUCTURE:NAME: Environmental Ethic

THESIS: A new environmental consciousness is coming, more and morepeople are "getting the ethic," but affirmative plan of slows or even stopsthis ethic because it is . Without this new ethic, the world cannot longsurvive.

A. The ethic is coming now [internal link]B. The affirmative stops the ethic by doing . [link]C. Without the ethic, life on earth is doomed.


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HOW TO ANSWER A DISADVANTAGE:1. Disprove link to your plan.2. Disprove impact.3. Disprove internal link.4. Link turn: no, our policy solves this problem. (Not to be used with impact

turn)5. Impact turn: no, that thing we cause is not bad, it is actually good. (Not tobe used with link turn)6. Not intrinsic: other forces will intervene to stop the impact from takingplace.7. Applies to policy system/plan of opponents as much as it does to you, soirrelevant.8. No brink: there is not enough of a link to push us over into impact X.9. Not unique: will happen/should have happened anyway because of X(something which should have also been a link).10. Case outweighs: bigger, sooner, etc.

WINNING DISADVANTAGES ON THE NEGATIVE:1. Make sure to deal with each and every one of their answers. DO NOTDROP ANY.2. Make sure to explain how plan uniquely causes the impacts.3. Take special care to answer and defeat all tums.4. Weigh impacts, show judge disadvantage is bigger than case.

KICKING OUT OF DISADVANTAGES1. If they have great answers, don't waste your time...kick out of it.2. Kick out specifically and on purpose...tell judge you are doing it.3. If you kick out of disadvantages with turns on them, you will lose

4. To kick out disadvantages with turns on them, concede specific otheraffirmative responses which would make the turn irrelevant example: if thedisadvantage is not true, it cannot be turned. Explain why concedingresponse X makes the turn irrelevant.5. Careful in conceding "not uniquely arguments to take out turns,especially link turns, as it will not do so.

EXAMINING SIX DISADVANTAGE POSSIBILITIES IN ANY GIVEN DEBATE

#l: KICKING OUT OF A BAD DISAD WHEN THERE ARE N0 TURNS-Concede specific responses.

-Explain how this makes the disad irrelevant.-Note that no answers are called turns.-New turns or reinterpretations are not allowed.


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#2- KICKING OUT OF A DISAD WHEN THERE ARE TURNS-You must kick out of it, not just drop it. Otherwise, the turns make it a newreason to vote aff.-Answers 2 & 3 contradict.-Conceding answers to take out the link turn (aff stops or solves problem

disad is about):1. No link. If plan does not cause it, does that eliminate the link turn? N0:There may be other causes, especially if it is linear disad.2. Won't happen. If internal link is gone, does that eliminate the link turn?

YES: if it isn't going to happen, they don't get credit for solving it.3. Not unique: if it is going to happen anyway, does that eliminate the linkturn?No: in fact, it makes the turn better. It is going to happen, so we better havethe plan so we can solve it [Most common error]4. No significance: if it is not bad, does that eliminate the link turn? YES:They can turn it, but there is no impact. Caution: there may be SOMEimpact, in which case the answer is N0-Conceding answers to take out the impact turn (aff says the disad result isgood, not bad):l. No link: if plan does not lead to the disad, does that take out the impactturn?

YES- if X is good, but there is ZERO X caused, no impact.2. Won't happen: if internal link is gone, does that take out the impactturn?

YES: if it won't happen, who cares if it is good or bad?3. Not unique: if it is going to happen anyway, does that take out the impactturn?

YES: it happens if you vote aff or neg. so whether it is good or bad is

irrelevant.4. No significance- if it is not bad, does that eliminate the impact turn? N0:if it is not bad, it can still be good (impact turn claim).

#3: DEALING WITH A DISAD WHEN AFF HAS NOTHING BUT TURNSl. Look for repeats. 1-7, 4-8.2. Look for shared assumptions and defeat those assumptions.3. Evaluate how much of each turn they get given the original link.EX: Aff causes $l B growth, neg says that is bad. Aff says, No because growthis good because it stops war. Aff does not get credit for stopping war, just

credit for solving as much war as $l B growth will solve.4. Offer a new aff scenario in 2AC to outweigh.5. Show turns are of no value, "No war is coming."6. Original disad outweighs turns (growth is more bad than good) (Affcauses more growth than they solve).7. Answer the turns one by one, disproving each one.


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#4- HOW THE NEGATIVE SCREWS UP BY NOT BEING COMPLETENeg deals with all aff answers except one (or two). Aff then focuses all theirattention on that one answer, really building it up. Aff saves time and negfails to win disad.

#5. WHAT T0 DO WHEN THERE IS A DOUBLE-TURNYou argue that the plan does not cause X, in fact it stops all of X (link turn).You also argue that impact Y is not bad, it is actually good (impact turn).You are saying: we give you less of a good thing. This would be anindependent reason to vote against you (especially if impact is large).NEG: Connect the two, show it is a new disad and explain it, impact it, nonew answers, show how other aff answers are irrelevant.

AFF: Explain how the two turns are of the same type, so it is not a doubleturn. Show how your other responses would take out one of the turns (see#2 above) so there is no double turn. Or, surrender.

#6: WINNING A DISADVANTAGE

l. Be complete. Answer all of their answers.2. Gang up - do more than they do.3 Always indicate impact of disadvantage4 Have a story for all the components: link, internal link, brink (ifthreshold), linearity (if linear), impact size, probability of impact,uniqueness (if threshold).

a guide to disadvantage debates

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