The Media and Fallacies - Essay Example

Media Fallacies of Affiliate In an article in the science section of New York Times Steven Pinker outlines that:“Government caused the very problems they were supposed to solve” (Zimmer, 2011)The statement is an “Argumentum ad populum” because it is based on the popular notion that the government does not always put into perspective the welfare of citizens but that it is made up of reckless politicians. An article by David MacRae outlines that:“The reason for crime is criminals” (MacRae, 2000)The statement is an “Argumentum Ad Hominem” because the objective was to find out the reason for crime but the statement turns out and attacks criminals.

Both of the statements are fallacies because they break the basic processes required to construct logical premises and then use logic arguments to come to a conclusion whether the statements are true or not. The arguments present common societal problems with regard to governance and crime. The argument that “the government causes the problems it has tried to solve is based on a generalization and it is not supported by evidence to support the argument. In a similar way the argument that “The reason for crime is criminals” is not based on logic thinking but on a deduction that does not really solve the problem of finding out the reasons for crime.

The creators of such fallacies assume that audiences lack the logical skills and will be drawn to believe without conducting analyses on the logical bases of the arguments. However, critical thinking skills have empowered some audiences with the ability to make logical judgments on arguments presented to them. Although some audiences might believe, not all will be fooled by such structured fallacious arguments aimed at no good for the society. Works CitedMacRae, D. (2000, 10 July). The root causes of crime.

Retrieved from The Contrarian: http://www.quebecoislibre.org/000610-9.htmZimmer, C. (2011, November 2011). Human natures pathologist. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/science/human-natures-pathologist.html?_r=1&src=dayp