Argument200 （12月作文高强组——好好学习，天天作文）

一月一号UID: 2148376

TOPIC: ARGUMENT200 - Statistics collected from dentists indicate that three times more men than women faint while visiting the dentist. This evidence suggests that men are more likely to be distressed about having dental work done than women are. Thus, dentists who advertise to attract patients should target the male consumer and emphasize both the effectiveness of their anesthetic techniques and the sensitivity of their staff to nervous or suffering patients.
WORDS: 451          TIME: 0:35:00          DATE: 2006-12-16

The argument is not persuasive as it stands due to some logical flaws it has. The vague statistics, false causality relationship between the statistics and the conclusion the authors commits weaken his suggestion that dentists should emphasize the sensitivity of their staff in their advertisements.
First, the statistics the author cites are too vague to provide convincing evidence and not authoritative enough. There is not any information about the procedure of the study. Who conducted this study? How many people took part in this study? Whether men's body qualities are same with women’s? Whether the dental illnesses of men are much severe than those of women? And is the statistics from a small local place where men are more likely to be faint? Without information mentioned above, the dentists would be advised to consider more and search for more information before making decision what would in their advertisement.
However, even the statistics are true and men are three times more than women faint while visiting dentists, which is, of course, indeed is not identified yet, it does not mean that men are more likely to be distressed about having dental work done than women are. It is at least likely that men are more likely having more severe dental problems than women and thus they are more likely to be faint while visiting the dentists. Maybe it is the illness itself not the psychological fear and distress cause them faint while being cured by dentists. It is also possible that men are faint to blood and as a result they are trend to be faint not because of the distress from the curing process. Thus, the merely statistics that men are more likely to be faint while visiting the dentists can hardly indicate the conclusion that men are more likely distressed.
To get further, even the conclusion that men are more likely to be distressed about dental work is true, the dentists should consider that whether their advertisement should target the male consumer and emphasize both the effectiveness and the sensitivity of their staff. Is there any statistics indicating that the number of male consumer is larger than that of female consumer? Besides, even if dentists emphasize the sensitivity of their staff to nervous patients, would the patients come as they wish? They are afraid of the painstaking course and only the sensitivity of the staff would not dismiss their fear. Maybe the advertisement target on the decrease of pain during the curing process would work.
In sum, this argument cannot provide a convincing recommendation to dentists to advertise emphasizing the male consumers and effectiveness as well as the staff sensitivity. Before the dentists make propaganda, they need more statistics about the number of male and female consumers.