The section on informal fallacies was one of the most interesting in the entire Toolkit because so many of these fallacies are employed by people trying to sell us things, whether that's a political candidate or a brand of toothpaste. You only have to turn on the TV to hear about the latest slippery slope America's youth is on. Often, it's more fear marketing for the television station than an actual helpful piece of journalism. For example, the idea that using shorthand in texting is destroying the English skills of the average American teen is massively overblown. The way it's portrayed in the media, it seems like the language itself is about to come crashing down around our ears. Arguments against the person are also a clearly faulty tactic, but are used openly and obviously in the media. Smear campaigns that bring the personal lives of politicians into the political arena are not attacking the candidate's views or competency in the job, they are changing how voters see the candidate.
I also enjoyed the part about false dichotomies. My roommate and I have had a recurring argument over the course of the entire last semester, and I just realized her side of it is a false dichotomy.
I think it is very important to keep an eye out for fallacies presented as truths in the media (or anywhere else for that matter). You are quite right about that.
ReplyDeleteI would be cautious about calling everything a fallacy, though. Your example with the correlation of texting and the English skills of the average student have been documented and researched. While watching out for such fallacies, we should still keep our intellectual virtues in mind, such as interpretive charity and intellectual humility.