DEBATE POINTERS+SCRIPT

15 Common Logical Fallacies

1. The Straw Man Fallacy

This fallacy occurs when your opponent over-simplifies or misrepresents your

argument (i.e., setting up a "straw man") to make it easier to attack or refute.

John: I think we should hire someone to redesign our website.

Lola: You're saying we should throw our money away on external resources
instead of building up our in-house design team? That's going to hurt our
company in the long run.

2. The Bandwagon Fallacy

Just because a significant population of people believe a proposition is true,

doesn't automatically make it true. Popularity alone is not enough to validate an
argument, though it's often used as a standalone justification of validity.

Example:

The majority of people believe advertisers should spend more money on

billboards, so billboards are objectively the best form of advertisement.

3. The Appeal to Authority Fallacy

While appeals to authority are by no means always fallacious, they can quickly
become dangerous when you rely too heavily on the opinion of a single person —
especially if that person is attempting to validate something outside of their
expertise.

Example:

Despite the fact that our Q4 numbers are much lower than usual, we should push
forward using the same strategy because our CEO Barbara says this is the best
approach.

4. The False Dilemma Fallacy

This common fallacy misleads by presenting complex issues in terms of two

inherently opposed sides. Instead of acknowledging that most (if not all) issues
can be thought of on a spectrum of possibilities and stances, the false dilemma
fallacy asserts that there are only two mutually exclusive outcomes.

Example:

We can either agree with Barbara's plan, or just let the project fail. There is no
other option.

5. The Hasty Generalization Fallacy

This fallacy occurs when someone draws expansive conclusions based on

inadequate or insufficient evidence. In other words, they jump to conclusions
about the validity of a proposition with some — but not enough — evidence to
back it up, and overlook potential counterarguments.

Example:

Two members of my team have become more engaged employees after taking
public speaking classes. That proves we should have mandatory public speaking
classes for the whole company to improve employee engagement.

6. The Slothful Induction Fallacy

Slothful induction is the exact inverse of the hasty generalization fallacy above.
This fallacy occurs when sufficient logical evidence strongly indicates a particular
conclusion is true, but someone fails to acknowledge it, instead attributing the
outcome to coincidence or something unrelated entirely.

Example:

Even though every project Brad has managed in the last two years has run way
behind schedule, I still think we can chalk it up to unfortunate circumstances, not
his project management skills.

7. The Correlation/Causation Fallacy

If two things appear to be correlated, this doesn't necessarily indicate that one of
those things irrefutably caused the other thing.

This might seem like an obvious fallacy to spot, but it can be challenging to catch
in practice — particularly when you really want to find a correlation between two
points of data to prove your point.

Example:

Our blog views were down in April. We also changed the color of our blog header
in April. This means that changing the color of the blog header led to fewer views
in April.

8. The Anecdotal Evidence Fallacy

In place of logical evidence, this fallacy substitutes examples from someone's

personal experience.

Arguments that rely heavily on anecdotal evidence tend to overlook the fact that
one (possibly isolated) example can't stand alone as definitive proof of a greater
premise.

Example:

One of our clients doubled their conversions after changing all their landing page
text to bright red. Therefore, changing all text to red is a proven way to double
conversions.

9. The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy

This fallacy gets its colorful name from an anecdote about a Texan who fires his
gun at a barn wall, and then proceeds to paint a target around the closest cluster
of bullet holes. He then points at the bullet-riddled target as evidence of his
expert marksmanship.
Speakers who rely on the Texas sharpshooter fallacy tend to cherry-pick data
clusters based on a predetermined conclusion.

Instead of letting a full spectrum of evidence lead them to a logical conclusion,

they find patterns and correlations in support of their goals, and ignore evidence
that contradicts them or suggests the clusters weren't actually statistically
significant.

Example:

Lisa sold her first startup to an influential tech company, so she must be a
successful entrepreneur. (She ignores the fact that four of her startups have failed
since then.)

10. The Middle Ground Fallacy

This fallacy assumes that a compromise between two extreme conflicting points is
always true. Arguments of this style ignore the possibility that one or both of the
extremes could be completely true or false — rendering any form of compromise
between the two invalid as well.

Example:

Lola thinks the best way to improve conversions is to redesign the entire company
website, but John is firmly against making any changes to the website. Therefore,
the best approach is to redesign some portions of the website.

11. The Burden of Proof Fallacy

If a person claims that X is true, it is their responsibility to provide evidence in

support of that assertion. It is invalid to claim that X is true until someone else can
prove that X is not true. Similarly, it is also invalid to claim that X is true because
it's impossible to prove that X is false.

In other words, just because there is no evidence presented against something,

that doesn't automatically make that thing true.

Example:

Barbara believes the marketing agency's office is haunted, since no one has ever
proven that it isn't haunted.

12. The Personal Incredulity Fallacy

If you have difficulty understanding how or why something is true, that doesn't
automatically mean the thing in question is false. A personal or collective lack of
understanding isn't enough to render a claim invalid.

Example:

I don't understand how redesigning our website resulted in more conversions, so

there must have been another factor at play.

13. The "No True Scotsman" Fallacy

Often used to protect assertions that rely on universal generalizations (like "all
Marketers love pie") this fallacy inaccurately deflects counterexamples to a claim
by changing the positioning or conditions of the original claim to exclude the
counterexample.
In other words, instead of acknowledging that a counterexample to their original
claim exists, the speaker amends the terms of the claim. In the example below,
when Barabara presents a valid counterexample to John's claim, John changes the
terms of his claim to exclude Barbara's counterexample.

Example:

John: No marketer would ever put two call-to-actions on a single landing page.

Barbara: Lola, a marketer, actually found great success putting two call-to-actions
on a single landing page for our last campaign.

John: Well, no true marketer would put two call-to-actions on a single landing
page, so Lola must not be a true marketer.

14. The Ad Hominem Fallacy

An ad hominem fallacy occurs when you attack someone personally rather than
using logic to refute their argument.

Instead they’ll attack physical appearance, personal traits, or other irrelevant

characteristics to criticize the other’s point of view. These attacks can also be
leveled at institutions or groups.

Example:

Barbara: We should review these data sets again just to be sure they’re accurate.

Tim: I figured you would suggest that since you’re a bit slow when it comes to
math.

15. The Tu Quoque Fallacy

The tu quoque fallacy (Latin for "you also") is an invalid attempt to discredit an
opponent by answering criticism with criticism — but never actually presenting a
counterargument to the original disputed claim.

In the example below, Lola makes a claim. Instead of presenting evidence against
Lola's claim, John levels a claim against Lola. This attack doesn't actually help
John succeed in proving Lola wrong, since he doesn't address her original claim in
any capacity.

Example:

Lola: I don't think John would be a good fit to manage this project, because he
doesn't have a lot of experience with project management.

John: But you don't have a lot of experience in project management either!

16. The Fallacy Fallacy

Here's something vital to keep in mind when sniffing out fallacies: just because
someone's argument relies on a fallacy doesn't necessarily mean that their claim
is inherently untrue.

Making a fallacy-riddled claim doesn't automatically invalidate the premise of the

argument — it just means the argument doesn't actually validate their premise. In
other words, their argument sucks, but they aren't necessarily wrong.
Example:

John's argument in favor of redesigning the company website clearly relied

heavily on cherry-picked statistics in support of his claim, so Lola decided that
redesigning the website must not be a good decision.

Affirmative

Introduction:

Good Evening everyone present here, my name is Shounak Chakraborty and I am

one of the speakers for the opposition _______ now before we begin I would like to
thank our teachers Kavita ma’am, Sana ma’am, Namrata ma’am and others for
allowing us to debate on such a topic on such an important day, our teachers
should be applauded for allowing us to debate on a quite stigmatized topic in
Indian society considering the conservatism rampant in Indian Society on
Women’s Empowerment

Let us begin with defining Woman's Equality. In its purest form, equality implies
"the situation in which everyone has the same rights and advantages." We all
know that equality implies that women are equal to men, but how precisely is this
equalness defined?, equality does not imply that men and women are
mathematically equal, that men are the same as women; this, we believe, is an
erroneous notion We recognize that men and women differ, but the equality we
are discussing is equality in life, equality in opportunities, and equality in
treatment, as Martin Luther King eloquently stated, "I have a dream that my four
little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character." Similarly, true equality is
not judging someone based on their gender, but rather based on their character.

Now, Let's get to the heart of the matter: Just because there is growth does not
mean that we should stop attempting to grow. For instance, if we rank highest in
economic growth, does that mean we should stop actively growing our economy
and instead sit at home and watch TV? Of course not. Likewise, even though there
is growth in women's empowerment, we shouldn't be satisfied. Therefore, in our
opinion, we shouldn't stop this growth. Critics try to prove their points by using
specialized ideas and examples to try to persuade us that we have achieved
egalitarianism, that we discriminated against men, but the statistics show the
whole picture. We need more and more women's empowerment until the system
of patriarchy accommodates woman and falls on its own weight.

The facts are 149 out of every 100,000 women are raped in India every year. This
may seem like a small number, but 71% of rapes in India go unreported, meaning
that there are around 500 rapes per 100,000 women in India. One woman is raped
in India every twenty minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau,
but let's speak about other crimes against women first. 4,28,278 cases of violence
against women were reported in 2021, an 87% increase from 2012. And now I
want to ask you: Are women truly on an equal footing with men in a culture where
women are subjected to domestic violence every nine minutes, where honor
murders, where vitriol and acid attacks, where assaults, and where female
infanticide are commonplace? Even the illogical, like the heart, and the logical
such as statistics all point to the contrary, as famed musician Freddie Mercury
once said, "Is this the world we created?" and honestly that’s the question we
should be asking ourselves.
 POINTERS

• Pros

• Women will receive an excellent education. Women are now more

likely than males to be less educated. Less educated woman due to
not being able to comprehend their rights.

• Counter: Education is a right regardless of gender, yes, it’s true a

proportion of woman are uneducated but a proportion of men are also
uneducated, the question should be people not getting educated not
woman not getting educated.

• Women shall be treated with dignity. Women are expected , to

nurture children and be domestic helpers.

o Counter: These expectations are not only based on gender,

men too are expected to raise their family, expectations are
for both genders in fact it is a point of equality between men
and woman and are based more on sexual division of labor,
secondly abortion can be done by any woman in India so these
expectations hold no value.

• Women will have a say in issues affecting them.

• Counter: Woman already have become representatives based on

merit, not based on gender, in a democratic society merit triumphs
all, woman should become representators because of their ability, not
gender.

• How many women are asked for permission? Rapes are becoming
more common by the day.

• Counter:
• They will be able to protect themselves and others. Why does a
woman still require the protection of a man? Nonetheless, self-
defence instruction is still reserved for the elite.

• Equal pay and opportunity. Before going to work, a woman must do all
home tasks. The husband is not responsible for household tasks, these
stereotypes effect woman by giving them less time in their jobs
• Economic empowerment of women is necessary for the accomplishment of
women's rights and gender equality. Economic empowerment for women
comprises equitable participation in contemporary markets, access to and
control over productive resources, access to good work, and control over
their own time, lives, and bodies. Increased voice, agency, and meaningful
engagement in economic decision-making at all levels, from the family to
international organizations, are also part of it.
• Economic empowerment of women and addressing gender disparities in
the workplace are critical to attaining the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development.
• When more women work, the economy grows. Economic empowerment for
women improves productivity, diversity, and income equality, among other
positive development outcomes. Increasing female employment rates in
OECD countries to equal those in Sweden, for example, might boost GDP
by more than USD 6 trillion, while keeping in mind that growth does not
always lead to a reduction in gender disparities. Gender inequality, on the
other hand, is estimated to cost the economy 15% of GDP.
• Increasing women's and girls' educational attainment contributes to
women's economic empowerment and more inclusive economic growth.
Education, upskilling, and re-skilling during one's career are crucial for
women's and girls' health and well-being, as well as their income-
generation and labor-force involvement. Over the previous 50 years,
greater educational attainment has accounted for more than half of OECD
economic progress.
• Economic equality for women is beneficial to business. Companies gain
tremendously from boosting female employment and leadership
possibilities, which has been proved to improve organizational
performance and growth. Companies with three or more women in top
management positions are projected to perform better in all categories of
organizational performance.
• In their 2018 study, Vikram and Chen discovered that educated working
moms had more cognitive flexibility, which is defined as the capacity to
shift mentally between two or more concepts or analyze numerous
concepts at the same time.
• According to a 2011 study conducted by Luke and Munshi, women's
greater labor involvement led to women migrating from outside city
regions into metropolises, improving their family's socioeconomic level as
well as their earning power and professional opportunities. Women who
have the freedom to roam about often have better mental and physical
health.
• Greater control over home resources by women, whether through their
own wages or monetary transfers, can improve a country's economic
prospects by shifting expenditure in favor of children. Evidence from Brazil,
China, India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom demonstrates that
when women manage more household income, either through their own
work or through financial transfers, children benefit from increased
expenditure on food and education (World Bank, 2011).
• Empowering women as economic, political, and social agents may
influence policy decisions and make institutions more reflective of many
viewpoints. Giving women control at the municipal level in India resulted in
increased supply of public amenities such as water and sanitation, which
were more important to women. (Beaman and others, 2011).
• Strengthening women gives males the confidence to speak up. This is
demonstrated by enabling all individuals to be altruistic, hardworking,
multitasking, compassionate, strong, and capable of learning how to
nurture.
• Women's empowerment is never about comparing men's and women's
strengths; rather, it is about recognizing strengths in a new light and
developing the mindset that women are just as essential as men.
Empowering women so implies that a woman is capable of performing all
that demands human and mental fortitude, rather than making a male feel
fragile and volatile.(COUNTER)
 • True, some women have benefited from their gender. A woman is not
permitted to accept favors in the name of women's empowerment; rather,
it is about taking pleasure in their obligations. It is surely a gentlemanly
gesture for men to give up advantages for the sake of women, but it is up
to women to act as properly brought-up by restricting such favors and
trying to accomplish their objective in any endeavour, whether at business
or at home, those who are unnecessarily taking favours are following a
misandrist model which by no means do we consider correct. (COUNTER)
• PINK TAX
• In daily life Woman are discriminated against societally due to stereo
• Even in traditional homes minor girls are expected to do more chores in
comparison to minor boys

CONCLUSION

OPPOSITION
INTRODUCTION
Good Evening everyone present here, my name is Shounak Chakraborty and I am
one of the speakers for the opposition of the resolution _______ now before we
begin I would like to thank our teachers Kavita ma’am, Sana ma’am, Namrata
ma’am and others for allowing us to debate on such a topic on such an important
day, our teachers should be applauded for allowing us to debate on a quite
stigmatized topic in Indian society considering the conservatism rampant in Indian
Society on Women’s Empowerment
Let us begin by defining female equality. In its most basic form, equality refers to
"the situation in which everyone has the same rights and advantages." Yet the
shocking fact is that legally in India, the balance scale is tipped in favor of women
simply because of a few particular instances of misconduct and the feminist
movement, which pushes its agenda toward a misandrist society. Do we truly
have the same rights if only men can commit rape or if in the vast majority of
cases men are forced to give alimony, that in the vast majority of
instances, women can file false harassment cases, ruining men's lives, and then
gallivanting away scot-free? Since 1947, there has been an effort to empower
women through laws, and we agree that there were valid causes for unrest in the
first and second generations of feminism, but the current third generation of
feminism, or as we like to call it faux (that is fake) feminism, is based more on
generating controversy and supporting all women rather than supporting correct
people.

Everyone is familiar with the Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp case; if you aren't, the
defendant Amber Heard was sued for defamation for a statement in which she
called the plaintiff Johnny Depp, a renowned actor known for his dexterity in
acting, a domestic abuser, thereby destroying this image; in the subsequent court
trial, it was discovered that Depp did not abuse Heard at all Do you know how so-
called equality proponents reacted? They insulted Johnny Depp and called it a
patriarchal win.

If you don't understand what I'm saying, what I mean is that these so-called
Woman's Empowerment and Equality lobbyists are full of people who don't want
equality, they want misandry, and thus are hypocrites; the third wave feminist
movement, according to us has been misconstrued to a spree of misandry instead
of accepting the fact that

In reality, feminisminindia.com(a premier feminist blogging site) has an essay titled "Why I
Will Not Stop Saying 'Men Are Trash,'" in which it mocks males, considers misandry fiction,
and supports the term "All men are trash." Is this equality? No, this is contemporary
feminism, and therefore we believe that modern appeals for equality and empowerment are
motivated by personal ambitions rather than a genuine desire to address societal challenges.

POINTERS

Violence against men

Domestic abuse is frequently used as an excuse for substantial measures of

women's empowerment, however, the realities are that gender-based violence
affects 52.4 percent of married males, according to a survey of 1000 married men
aged 21 to 49 in rural Haryana villages. 51.5 percent of men have been subjected
to some sort of torture or abuse by their wives or intimate partners at some point
in their life, however men do not report this because of general prejudices against
males, fear of fraudulent cases, societal and familial pressure, and denial. The
abuse figures are one of the vital statistics for the faux-equality movement, but
they are incomplete and only reflect one side of the narrative
(COUNTER+POINT).

Inequality against men

Life is a zero-sum game; what is good for one is bad for another; what is bad for
one is good for another; widespread movements for women's equality and
empowerment have had many such effects; in fact, existing legislation does not
provide males with even the most basic relief of having a male or female
aggressor keep away from them (a restraining or protection order); legally, only
men can commit rape, completely ignoring the fact that women can commit rape
or that Only a man can be held accountable for cruelty to his wife, according
to Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code 1860. There is no paragraph or clause in
the legislation that makes a woman responsible for domestic abuse, I would like to
ask the opposition, is this the equality you yearn for?

False Accusations Are Not That ‘Vanishingly

Rare’
Over a ten-year period, David Lisak's investigation, which was published in
Violence Against Women, identified as provably fraudulent 5.9 percent of alleged
rapes at an American institution. However, a larger proportion of reports (44.9%)
were classified as 'Case Did Not Proceed,' which includes reports that could
ultimately be determined as false allegations as in many of these cases they were
declared innocent but the damage to their reputations, their life was destroyed,
these men were guilty until proven innocent, where is the due process in this?,
therefore cases of false accusation of rape are actually more common than
expected and this is all because of excessive modern empowerment of woman
and so called equality movements (COUNTER)

Me too

Me too has often been used as an example of what happens when woman are
allowed to attack their accusers but a key detail often neglected is that Me too
has shifted the burden of proof to the defendants instead of the accusers, this is
completely against any notion of justice, and leads to destruction of due process.

Woman constitutionally have more rights

EQUALITY BY GOVERNMENT JOBS

MERITOCRACY IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR+company with 50 people+ field has

less woman+ leads to hiring of less qualified candiddates

WOMAN TRADIONALLY GO FOR HUMANITIES SECTORS

WOMAN DOMINATED SECTORS EXIST(Nurses)

DON’T GIVE VAGUE STATEMENTS

IN PRIMARY SECTORS LABOR NEEDS PHYSICIAL POWER WHICH CAUSES MEN TO

BE NEEDED

Demands for equality causes A certain decrease

TRUE GENDER EQUALITY IS LIKE A UNICORN

NUMBERS OF SATI IS NEGLIGEBLE due to first wave and second wave feminism,
why more demands of empowerment and equality + history of sati of doing to
avoid rape by Mughals

STEROTYPES ARE FOR EVERYTHING+part of human nature

INTRINSIC PART OF RELIGION