1. The 2AC: Answering Disads
Casey Parsons

2. Thinking about disads
Like we discussed earlier, you should think about arguments in terms of offense and defense
If you had to choose, offensive arguments usually get you more than defensive arguments
So when you answer disads, you should try and answer them as offensively as possible
At the same time, going exclusively with offense is usually a bad idea, you want a mixture of both
We’ll continue using the example of the spending disadvantage

3. Defensive Arguments
Non-Unique – The disadvantage will happen regardless of whether or not we do the plan
On the spending disad example, the UQ was “the economy is growing now.” The non-unique argument would just be the opposite – “The economy is in decline now”
No-Link – The aff doesn’t trigger the disadvantage
On the spending disad example, the link was “plan causes economic decline.” Again, the no-link argument would just be the opposite – “plan does not cause economic decline”
Impact Defense – Even if the disadvantage happens, it doesn’t matter
On the spending disad example, the internal link was “plan causes regional conflict.” The only reason we care about regional conflict is because it escalates to nuclear war, so a possible impact defense argument would be “local conflicts don’t escalate”
Impact Defense is easily the most important part of the debate – always read it

4. Offensive Arguments
Link Turns – Reasons why the disadvantage has the story backwards
So on the spending DA example, the link would be something like “the plan leads to economic decline”
The link turn would be something like “the plan leads to economic growth”
In order to win a complete link turn, the aff also has to win the uniqueness debate
Impact Turns – Reasons why the disadvantage happening is a good thing
These are a bit trickier and kind of a lost art form
On the spending DA example, the internal link was “economic decline leads to regional conflicts”
The impact turn could possibly be “regional conflicts boost US military posturing”
You never want to put both a link turn and an impact turn on the same disadvantage – this is called a double turn