Case Study Exercise 2
INFO C453/I453
40 points
This past Wednesday, March 13th, 2024, the New York Times reported that the U.S. House of
Representatives passed a bill requiring that TikTok’s owner, the Chinese company ByteDance,
must either sell TikTok or else TikTok will be banned in the United States. Both Republicans
and Democrats supported the bill. President Biden has stated that he will sign the bill into law if
the Senate also passes the bill. (At this time, there is no guarantee that the Senate will pass the
bill.)
1. Please read the following two articles from the New York Times (if you have trouble
accessing either article, please let me know):
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/technology/tiktok-ban-house-
vote.html?unlocked_article_code=1.eE0.C6ky.DEDaLS1PlJxD&smid=url-share
2. Pretend that you are a U.S. Senator. Give:
a. an argument why this bill must be passed;
b. an argument why this bill must not be passed.
3. Each argument must be at least 1.5 pages long. To make things fair between students, for
full credit, you must use the following format:
(Note: It is risky to ignore any of the following formatting requirements. The goal
here isn’t to be pedantic, but a fair percentage of students, even at the 400-level,
wait until the last minute, then put in a bunch of filler whitespace to reach the
minimum page requirement. This only works if the instructor doesn’t actually read
the finished product. That is not the case for this course.)
Doublespace the text of your arguments.
Start each argument on a new page.
Use 1” margins for left, right, top, bottom margins.
Use a separate cover page. I do not want to see cover page information (e.g., your name,
my name, the course name/number, the date, title, etc.) on any page except that first cover
page.
Use a separate References page. In addition to references to the two articles above, I
want you to find and use at least two more references regarding this exact topic (i.e., the
potential ban of TikTok in the U.S.). This should not be difficult. It’s been all over the
news this week. You may use your textbooks and other sources, but these will not count
toward the two additional references required above, unless they are about this specific
topic.
If you are not sure, how to construct a References (also known as a “Works Cited” or
“Bibliography”) page, or if you do not know how to do in-text citations of references,
please consult Purdue Owl:
o https://owl.purdue.edu/
I don’t care what font you use, but use point size 12. (For comparison, this page uses
Lucida Bright font with point size 12.)
4. Other considerations and requirements:
Your arguments must each have the form of a short essay, not simply a bunch of bullet
points. Notice how carefully scripted politicians usually are when they speak. They don’t
appear to be riffing from a bunch of bullet points. Often, they appear to be reading from
notes.
You are making two separate arguments: “This bill must be passed because… .” and
“This bill must not be passed because… .”
Recall, in an argument, you make a claim and then give reasons and/or evidence for that
claim. You do not say things like: “I will make a deductive argument using modus
ponens…” (even if you are making a deductive argument using modus ponens).
Listeners/readers are not interested in a lesson in logic; they are interested in
hearing/reading your argument(s).
Just because we have covered the usage of ethical theories and normative principles in
case studies so far, and just because these theories/principles seem to loom large in
whatever we are doing this semester, it doesn’t mean you must explicitly bring these
theories and principles in for this assignment. You might—if one needs to be pointed
out—but in justifying a claim, you might instead (or also) refer to laws/regulations (e.g.,
see the “fair use” examples in Quinn Chapter 4); you might use social or economic
justification; you might use some other form of justification in your arguments. You’re
trying to make the best case you can for each argument
