Refutation by Expectation

By Deane Barker

Someone may make the same arguments all the time, but that doesn’t make them wrong. If someone responds to an argument, or makes a new one, in a perfectly expected way, saying “Oh, you would say that,” isn’t a valid refutation. Their argument might be boring and expected, but it’s not necessarily wrong.

Examples

Conservatives say that liberals “play the race card” in too many arguments. But just because race comes up, doesn’t mean the argument is not valid.

Liberals say that conservatives leans too much on claims of “media bias,” and that they brush off too many issues by claiming the media is against them. Expected as this argument might be, it doesn’t automatically make it wrong.

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