Countering Unit 2-Post 6

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/10/damascus-highway-syria-battle-rebels-troops_n_2657561.html

Harris begins this chapter by reassuring us that the aim of writing is not to show how much smarter you are than others but to expand on what others have already said, nor to point out another writer’s mistakes and proceed to show them how to do it correctly.  He makes it clear that the type of countering that he is going to talk about is one that disagrees with the “verbal swordplay” explained above.  The author states that, “to counter is not to nullify but to suggest a different way of thinking.” (Harris 56)  Harris makes a serious emphasis that countering is to provide different views, opinions, and to notice what other writers have not in a subject or an idea without disagreeing with those views and opinions of other writers.  A basic understanding of a subject must be identified before criticizing for countering.  Harris shares three different ways to do such countering: arguing the other side, uncovering values, and finally dissenting.  To argue the other side is to, in some cases, critique by adding reasoning and pointing out incomplete information provided by the writer.  Harris states that you must “uncover a term of value that a text has obscured or repressed before you can question it.” (Harris 60)  To uncover values is to find the influence behind the text itself, and to become aware of the information that is either not given any attention or is overlooked in order to gain new ideas.  Dissenting is pinpointing the errors of the text’s arguments and correcting them.

In a post that I found on Huffington Post, I was able to find an example of Harris’s definition of countering.  In the article “Damascus Highway Battle Rages Between Syria Rebels and Troops”, written by Barbara Surk, the author uncovers values such as, “The initiative is unlikely to gain any traction among the Syrian opposition and fighters on the ground, a highly decentralized force with weak links to the political leaders that deeply distrusts the regime,” which shows us that she is aware of the information she is conveying.