How to argue terribly

1. Appeal to bandwagon (Miska and Miiko)
• Bad arguments:
• You should buy an iPhone because everyone else has one.
• You should smoke because all the cool kids do it.
• You shouldn’t wear a helmet because other people don’t.
• Good arguments:
• You should go to school because everyone else does.
• You should eat because everyone alive eats.
• You should brush your teeth because everyone with good oral hygiene does it.
2. Appeal to irrelevant authority (Julia and Aino)

• Bad arguments:
• People in medieval times said that they had witnessed witchcraft so it has to be true.
• Because the bible says world was created by God it has to be true.
• Santa Claus is real because everyone knows him.
• Good arguments:
• We know that the earth is round because we’ve seen it from space.
• Finland is a bilingual country because it was once part of Sweden.
• 9/11 really happened because a lot of people were there to witness it.

3. No true Scotsman (Luka, Nikolas, Otso)

• Bad arguments:
• No true fan of metal listens electronic music. 
• No true patriot has ever committed a crime.
• Only true believers can get to heaven.  
• Good arguments:
• A true weapon causes destruction.
• A true country is recognised by other countries.  
• A true doctor has been taught how to help people.

     4. Hasty generalization (Atte and Kasper

• Bad arguments:

• VR is always late because 2 people said so.
• School chairs are comfortable because we like them.
• All politicians are corrupted because one news article said so.
• Good arguments:
• Drugs are bad for you because they make you go crazy.
• Exercises are good for you because they help to learn.
• Sleeping is good for you because it scientifically proven to be helpful organize new things you have learned.

4. Hasty generalization (Jesse and Gibriil)

• Bad arguments:
• My teacher is annoying. Therefore, all teachers are annoying.
• I have seen only fat Americans. Therefore all Americans are fat.
• My Finnish friend drinks a lot of coffee. Therefore all Finns drink coffee.
• Good arguments:
• Finland consumes the most coffee in the world per capita, therefore we can assume that most Finns drink coffee.
• Estonia is the biggest alcohol consumer in the world, therefore we can assume Estonians drink quite much alcohol.
• In Iceland there are the most cannabis smokers per capita. Therefore we can assume that a lot of cannabis is consumed in Iceland.

      5. Appeal to Ignorance (Eric and Jere)

• Bad Arguments:
• Look at that commercial, it has an awesome looking burger in it. It must be like that in the restaurants.
• There is an object in the sky! It must be an UFO.
• The ratings said that movie is really good. It must be, because of the rating.
• Good Arguments:
• I can run very fast. I have tested it.
• There is a garbage collector on the streets. He must be environmentally aware.
• The outside is very foggy. It must be moist.

5. Appeal to Ignorance (Julia, Sonata and Camilla)

• Bad arguments
• Have you ever seen a McDonald’s be built? Neither have we - so it’s obviously…

• Why is Donald Trump winning the election in the USA this year? Nobody is actually voting for him, so it must be…

• Why is Johanna Tukiainen famous? Nobody knows, so of course the answer is...

• Good arguments
• Why is Justin Bieber so famous? The world is full of weird people called…

• Why on Earth is Kim Kardashian famous? Well it’s because of her…

6. Argument from Consequences (Egor and Ahmed)

• Bad arguments: 
• If we stop eating meat animals will stop dying.
• If we wouldn’t have laws life would be easy.
• If we would stop using renewable energy we would make our planet cleaner.
• Good arguments:
• If we wouldn’t go to school we would be uneducated. 
• If we wouldn’t have jobs people would steal.
• If we wouldn’t have internet we couldn’t contact people from another side of the planet.

7. Not a cause for a cause (Asmaa and Seyda)

• Bad arguments:
• I  couldn’t come to school, because my socks  colour didn’t match.
• I didn’t study for exams, because I didn’t have time.
• Why didn’t you answer to my calls? I was too lazy to answer to the phone
• Good arguments:
• I was sick, therefore I couldn’t come to school.
• I want a good job, therefore I study.
• I didn’t go to shop, because I couldn’t find my wallet.