Be a Wise Consumer of Media and Know Fallacies to Logic When You Hear Them
- reimaginelife22
- Aug 28, 2024
- 2 min read
Here we are in another highly contentious political season. When you watch a debate or listen to the political ads or a candidate being interviewed or giving a speech on TV and social media, can you spot common fallacies to logic that you may fall for or that reduce the effectiveness of a speaker’s message attempting to influence you? Are you a wise consumer of media, of rhetoric, of the content in speeches?
By identifying logic fallacies, you will easily spot a bad argument. Here is a short introduction to fallacies to logic and discusses the more common fallacies we hear:
There are many more logical fallacies; these are simply some of the more commonly used ones. A logical fallacy can be described, ”As an argument in which the conclusion doesn't follow from the premise or premises. The premises could be wrong, or the conclusion could be wrong, or both. First, identify which logical fallacy is being used. From there you can describe the fallacy by giving a hypothetical example that your listener will understand. An over-exaggerated example works best, because it draws-out, by exaggeration, where in the argument the fallacy is. Then you can explain exactly how (at the over-exaggerated point) the break in logic occurred, and how the conclusion isn't supported by the premise(s). For example, with a Straw Man fallacy, you can make another Straw Man type of argument that's more directly obvious as being fallacious by grossly misrepresenting the opponent's position. This should illustrate the point of where the mistake occurred.
What makes an Informal Logical Fallacy is an incorrect conclusion reached through faulty thinking. Said another way, reaching a conclusion that is not supported by the premises. You may have correct premises, but yet through faulty reasoning you've arrived at an incorrect conclusion. A Formal Fallacy occurs when the argument itself is constructed wrongly. The premises may be true, but the argument is fallacious because the formal construction is faulty” (https://successfulstudent.org/the-art-to-argument-persuasion-logical-fallacies/#how-would-you-explain-a-logical-fallacy).
One of the current candidates for POTUS is famous for delivering logical fallacies. [On a personal note, this not meant to be a political blog; because this person so frequently uses logical fallacies, it is easy to find & show examples.] Check out this article that highlights a number of fallacies from that person: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/443999-a-reality-based-game-for-trump-watchers-name-that-fallacy/ And, watch this same person commit 15 logical fallacies in 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2CxDu7jiyE
Did you hear the fallacies in the examples shown or described in the videos? What are some examples you have heard of fallacies to logic? Why are fallacies to logic distracting to the real issues? Please share your thoughts, insights, and suggestions by either commenting below this post if you are reading this on social media, or, if you are reading this through your email subscription, please share, by emailing me, at reimaginelife22@gmail.com.
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