Five Favorite Fallacies - Essay Example

?Five Fallacies While scientific investigation places considerable standards on claims of knowledge, the news media and advertising industry, in manyinstances, operates through less comprehensive standards of truth. While these entities can constitute an important form of knowledge, oftentimes they implement logical fallacies in their truth claims. While these logical fallacies may hold rhetorical appeal for an audience, as they seem to rely on strong knowledge, upon further investigation they frequently demonstrate the propensity to which society is willing to accept erroneous assumptions. In investigating such forms of argument, this essay examines the implementation of five logical fallacies in the popular media. One prominent area such logical fallacies occur is in arguments surrounding gay marriage. Increasingly gay marriage has assumed a prominent place in the lexicon of American civil rights challenges. Significant objections have been raised to gay marriage by conservative groups who wish to, as they indicate, preserve the sanctity of marriage. In reality these groups implement a variety of fallacious arguments. One prominent argument is that, “Marriage, the defenders contend, cannot possibly be treated as a “fundamental right” open to gays and lesbians because such a right must have a foundation in American history, legal traditions, and practices” (Denniston). The above argument clearly implements the appeal to traditional fallacy. The appeal to tradition fallacy argues that since for a long period of time something has been one way, in the future it will continue to be that way. As the argument is that gay marriage should continue to be illegal because it was historically prohibited America, it is implementing an appeal to tradition. It seems that rather than truly believing this argument, the intention of people making the argument is to support their position on gay marriage by bringing people’s attention to such precedent. Another significant area where logical fallacies are implemented is in sports commentary. Sports commentators are tasked with the responsibility of examining instances in professional sports and making informed commentary. While the informed commentary is espoused as expert opinion, in many instances fallacies are used to support the arguments. For instance, a recent story about the upcoming National Football League draft implemented the fallacy of confusing cause and effect. Essentially, this fallacy operates by examining the relations between occurrences, and then erroneously arguing for a linkage between cause and effect. In terms the National Football League draft one article has speculated that the Kansas City Chiefs should pick a quarterback – Geno Smith – with the first pick (Kardar). While quarterbacks are frequently chosen with this pick, Geno Smith can arguably be said to not be worth the pick and that instead the franchise should go with a different position. The article is implementing cause and effect because it has considered that since many rookie quarterbacks were successful this year in the National Football League, they will necessarily be good next year. Rather, it is highly possible that the quarterbacks that were successful this year were so because they were all exceptionally talented and their success will not influence the success of future quarterbacks. Ultimately, it appears that the writer’s intention was out of a genuine belief that the National Football League has changed considerably, such that rookie quarterbacks are now able to succeed in ways they previously were not able to. Another prominent area of investigation in contemporary society is drug use. With the advent of designer drugs in the late 20th century, an increasing division emerged between casual drugs and those that were considered exceptionally dangerous. Because of this division many politicians and anti-drug activists have implemented the logical fallacy of the slippery slope. The slippery slope argument considers that if one thing is allowed then it will necessarily lead to other and more dangerous things. This fallacy refers to the notion of the gateway drug. Essentially, the gateway drug argument is that if individuals are exposed to a specific low risk drug, such as marijuana, it will open the gate to these peoples’ use of more powerful and dangerous drugs (D.A.R.E.). Rather, it seems highly possible that individuals are able to consume substances like alcohol and marijuana, and still refrain from resorting to more serious forms of drug abuse. In this specific scenario it seems that the intentions of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) are to prevent drug usage across the board. As such, while the gateway drug argument is potentially erroneous, it operates within the organization’s overriding mission. Another prominent area where fallacies are implemented is in terms of the contemporary issues surrounding gun control. The recent shooting in Newton, Connecticut caused a significant impact on the country, as the atrocious nature of the tragedy was truly unspeakable. This tragedy left political leaders with the absolute necessity to develop and implement solutions to avoid future tragedies. While a variety of potential solutions have been proposed, undoubtedly one of the most pervasive arguments is that the United States should implement stricter gun control laws. Recently, President Obama went on Meet the Press. On the show he talked about the horrific nature of the shootings and the pressing need for gun control (Sullivan). In this instance, it appears that President Obama may have implemented the fallacy of appeal to fear. This fallacy implements fear as a means of establishing a reason behind a specific argument. While gun control may be linked to reduced school shootings, this does not preclude the fact that President Obama implemented the appeal to fear in arguing that semi-automatic weapons need to be allowed. Ultimately, it appears that President Obama’s intentions are to use the fear and hysteria surround school shootings as a means to advance an anti-gun agenda. A final fallacy that has been implemented in recent months is the appeal to authority. The appeal to authority functions when an individual makes an appeal to an expert as a way to support one’s argument or opinion on a specific subject. Expert opinions are frequently implemented in court cases where the defense of prosecution calls an expert as a means of proving their overarching argument. One prominent such example of this occurred in the historic O.J. Simpson murder trial. During this trial O.J. Simpson’s defense team called Dr. Henry Lee to the stand to operate as a forensics expert. Dr. Henry Lee testified on a number of subjects, but perhaps most prominently he spoke about the importance of DNA. Lee testified that the DNA results obtained during the O.J. Simpson investigation may be inaccurate as they were mishandled. Ultimately, Simpson was acquitted on all charges of murder and undoubtedly Lee’s expert opinion contributed to the jury ruling. In this instance the appeal to authority fallacy is clearly in-effect. Simply because Dr. Less testified that the DNA results were inconclusive does not mean that O.J. Simpson is innocent. Ultimately, it appears that Dr. Lee’s intentions were less about providing genuine expert opinion on the O.J. Simpson case, but instead to leverage his expertise to convince the jury that otherwise sound evidence is instead highly problematic. In conclusion, this essay has examined the implementation of a variety of fallacious arguments. Specifically, the fallacies include: appeal to historical tradition, cause and effect, slippery slope, appeal to fear, and appeal to authority. The investigation demonstrated that the contemporary news media, as well as politicians regularly use fallacious arguments. It is then important for individuals to consider the many ways that one is manipulated through tacit assumptions that are not based on sound facts. Works Cited Denniston, Lyle. "The Most Compelling Arguments Against Legalizing Gay Marriage Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-legal-case-against-gay-marriage-2012-11 Kadar, Dan. "2013 NFL Mock Draft: Chiefs go with QB No. 1." ESPN. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2012. . Sullivan, Sean. "Obama wants action on gun control within year." Washington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2012. . "What is Gateway Drug?." D.A.R.E.. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Dec 2012. . Read More