SQUASH THE FALLACIES
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SQUASH THE FALLACIES
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Forced dichotomy
Hasty generalization
Straw man
Red herring
Bandwagon
Circular argument
Do these terms ring a bell?
Before we head out there into the debate land of economics, social policy, and pandemics, I think we could all use a refresher course on fallacies and how to avoid them!
A fallacy is: “a failure in reasoning which renders an argument invalid.”
One day last week, I was doing a news investigation. I turned on the television mainstream media, then flipped over to some online news sites and then strolled over to social media to round out my walk through the news!
Oh my!
It was like a field trip or lab experience for a college class titled:
“Fallacies and How to Use Them”
Whew! What is it about a pandemic that could bring this volume of fallacies to life? From Fox News to CNN to Facebook, the fallacies were flying fast.
So I decided to brush up on how to recognize an illogical, unsubstantiated, and manipulative argument. Today, I am going to share some great tools.
I am working hard to not contribute to the fallacy problem in public discourse. To be a person of integrity, I want to use sound and truthful reasoning to the best of my ability. I don’t always make it! I am a work in progress, but that is my heart.
Today, I’m calling us to a higher standard. Before we pass on that cute meme, or that juicy story, or that exposè article, let’s check it out a little further.
Here are some great basic questions before we post:
1) Who is the author?
2) What is the author’s particular bias?
3) Is the author reputable, qualified, and reliable?
4) Is this information opinion or fact? Is that clearly identified?
5) Is this information verified and substantiated? (Scripture teaches a matter should be settled with at least two witnesses)
6) Has the author committed any obvious fallacies of logic?
If you like videos, here is a great 7-minute tutorial. This would be great for family discussion: Top 10 Logical Fallacies
If you like written tools, here are some great choices:
10 Logical Fallacies You Should Know and How to Spot Them
15 Logical Fallacies You Should Know Before Getting Into a Debate
(Used with permission from Project 7000. Article by Lisa Cherry.)
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I tried to watch the video and it was blocked. I tried to click on the link for the resources, and they were both blocked. Do you know what happened?
The media seems compelled to explain complex things in simple terms, which is hard to do without injecting bias. I pray that the Lord will raise up messengers of the news who can faithfully and truthfully report on events of interest. So much of highest significance goes unreported, while drivel seems to get emphasized. May we, the consumers of news, get sick enough of this diet that we begin to demand sound and truthful reasoning. Thank you for this wakeup.