In order to strengthen your own position on an issue, it is important to know how to answer the opposition. Exploring the opposition will help you refine your ideas and know what objections you will need to answer when finding solutions to this problem. Assessment Directions: For this exercise, choose 10 statements from those given below and write a brief response—two to three sentences—stating your position and explaining at least two reasons why you hold it.
1. Violence is better than reason in dealing with dangerous situations.
2. Only the good die young.
3. It’s human nature to be greedy.
4. Capital punishment is a deterrent to crime.
5. If people are unemployed, they must be lazy. There’s a job for everyone who really wants to work.
6. Everyone has a value system of some kind.
7. We know ourselves better than others know us.
8. An unborn fetus is a human being.
9. If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
10. Truth is an intensely personal matter: What is true for me is not necessarily true for you.
11. Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing.
12. Challenging another’s opinion is a sign of intolerance.
13. Atheists are generally moral people.
14. Censorship is evil.
15. Black people are better athletes than white people.
16. The oil companies manipulate gasoline prices.
17. Getting your feet wet can cause a cold.
18. Homosexuals are as likely to control their sexual urges as are heterosexuals.