P7: Countering

"To identify what a text fails to do, you need to be clear about what it achieves-or at least what it attempts."
-Joseph Harris

Harris elaborates on the art of argumentation in his chapter on "countering" which focuses on arguing the other side, uncovering values, and dissenting as the main forms. Arguing the other side involves affirming that an opposing belief has merit or noting faults within the argument. Uncovering values involves finding the areas of an argument that have been left out and elaborating on why they're important. Dissenting is finding a common strand within your own argument and the counter argument in order to bring strength to your own. 


DailyIntel published an article titled "Obama's Dumb Deficit Promise" that concerned the Republican argument that Obama has not fulfilled his promise to cut the deficit in half. This article argues in favor of Obama's actions in saying that cutting the deficit would have raised taxes exponentially and been more detrimental to economic recovery than beneficial. The author even concedes that "it’s certainly true that he has broken his promise" but goes on to elaborate on why this is not a bad thing. I think that this a good example of "countering" because the author skillfully points out why this argument is flawed, pinpoints areas that are correct and elaborates on what should be done instead.