Understanding Counterarguments

Difference between a Counterargument (AKA Naysayer, Rebuttal, Counterclaim, Refutation) and a Pro- Con Argument Counterargument – challenges a specific claim being made Pro-Con Argument – offers new information that takes an alternative position to a claim, normally in terms of positives and negatives Example 1 Thesis : Disney princess movies before Mulan, such as The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White, only showed that women were voiceless , incapable of saving themselves, and simpleminded . Counterargument 1 – The claim that earlier Disney princess movies only showed voiceless, helpless, and simple females is only partially true because some of the most memorable villains in these movies, such as Ursula and Maleficent, were strong female leaders who were clever and listened to . Counterargument 2 – Additionally, I disagree that earlier movies only showed weak female leads; this argument is subjective since it suggests that there are some set characteristics that define what strong means; some earlier movies like Cinderella and Snow White did show stronger female characters who were very resilient and hard working—characteristics that frequently go unrecognized , but are characteristics of strong people. Pro-Con Argument 1 – Earlier Disney movies give good examples of moral heroes and virtuous women. Pro-Con Argument 2 – Earlier Disney movies teach children how to make good decisions and are a clean form of entertainment. Example 2 Thesis : Social media , such as Instagram , have negative effects on young women because they allow influencers to create and perpetuate unrealistic and filtered beauty standards that these women cannot live up to, causing psychological harm to self-esteem and body image, which can lead to real physical ailments. Counterargument 1 : The claim that Instagram has negative health effects on young women is only partially true; it has become better known that such media can have negative psychological effects on younger and impressionable people, and this knowledge has given people in recent years the tools for seeing and rejecting these unrealistic beauty standards , so while there is some truth to the argument, no where near as many people are as affected by this issue as there used to be before the issue was so widely discussed and acknowledged. Counterargument 2 : I reject the idea that social media is solely responsible for the low self-esteem that younger women may experience; self-esteem is created and maintained by many factors , such as environment, support system, predisposition to mental illness and chemical makeup/brain chemistry, etc. To place all the blame on social media influencers is to oversimplify a complex issue and ignore the many things that have the power to affect our mental wellbeing .