Teaching Argument Writing with Frankenstories

This is responding to criticism by turning it back on the accuser. Basically “You can’t accuse me because you did it too!”

Shifting the burden of proof means saying it is up to someone else to prove or disprove a claim.

The common internet catchphrase "do your own research" is an example of shifting the burden of proof.

“Two days after getting the jab, a friend of mine’s friend had a heart attack,” a Reddit user wrote recently in a discussion about Covid-19 vaccines. “I’m not saying they’re connected, but D.Y.O.R.”

(Source: NY Times)

Appeal to personal incredulity means dismissing a claim because you simply don’t understand it, or don’t believe it could be true.

In the musical Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Jefferson makes an appeal to personal incredulity to dismiss Alexander Hamilton's financial plan:

This financial plan is an outrageous demand
And it's too many damn pages for any man to understand.

Write like one is giving the other a performance review

R1: Quickly establish a situation and two characters.
R2: Have the reasonable character give a criticism of the unreasonable character, who dismisses it by accusing the reasonable character of the same thing.
R3: Have the reasonable character give another criticism, which the unreasonable character deflects by pointing out a lack of evidence and shifting the burden of proof.
R4: Have the reasonable character give their final criticism, which the unreasonable character deflects by dismissing it as unbelievable.
R5: Conclude the review however you like.

• Example game: Fired or Flamed