Word: argumentative
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Harvard’s name, the argument runs, must not be associated with disreputable and controverted causes. But an essential quality of Harvard’s name is that its association with a cause does not imply commitment to that cause. And rather than becoming dirtied by its associations, Harvard’s name gains splendor by the freedom with which it accepts any association in the fulfillment of its only commitment...
Unlike at Springfest—an event which is now open to the entire University community and at which a plausible (though not necessarily convincing) argument might be made to play “family-friendly” music—the intended audience of the concert in question is specifically college students. We refuse to believe that they cannot maturely handle the music. Students have a right to their own taste, even if it is not the symphony. The students and the HCC have called for Outkast, and though the administration’s concern for our virgin ears...
Does negotiating peace while suicide bombings continue mean you are, as some pundits and Israeli hawks have argued, rewarding terrorism? The argument doesn't hold water, but as the Bush administration attempts to re-engage with the Palestinian leadership of Yasser Arafat to broker a cease-fire it's worth examining why peace negotiations should be separated from a war on terror...
...problem with mouthing rhetoric is that it often leaves the speaker intellectually empty-handed. Such is the case with the column by Jason L. Steorts ’01-’03 (“Picking on Pickering,” March 22). Steorts’ argument that Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is justified in his public threats of retaliation for Judge Charles Pickering’s defeat holds an embarrassingly low expectation of our leaders...
Some might claim that the scale of the attacks is not commensurate—that, in essence, flying planes into buildings and killing thousands is a greater offense than detonating a bomb in a hotel and killing, say, 27. This argument falters even if we pass over the wholly plausible idea that any killing of innocent civilians, no matter how small in scale, can and must be punished. For if we consider the number of victims of suicide bombings in the past two weeks alone in proportion to Israel’s population, then there were in fact more Israeli...