Locate an article, news report, or social media post to respond to. You can also respond to any of the articles or topics discussed in the class.
First, summarize what the post is saying and what you understand them to be arguing.
Second, respond to the article with what we have been learning in class.
Comment below with a link to the text. 250 words.
- Fallacies
- Rhetoric
- Ethos, Logos, Pathos
- Questioning Assumptions
- Rhetorical Analysis
Professor Ramos' Blog 
While searching for an article related to the different themes of the week, I ran across a headline on the Los Angeles Times that grabbed my attention: “Op-Ed: The fallacy of ‘free college for all'”. Now, as soon as one reads the word Op-Ed, you know that it is going to be at least a little biased because it comes from a person’s opinion rather than a report of the news. However, this fact should not dissuade one from finding out where a person stands in their opinion. Alexander Astin (the author of the story) doesn’t necessarily write a huge article but it is definitely one with a lot of information. As an effort to sum it up, Astin makes the observation that while free college sounds great, it would heavily complicate the college financial aid system even more than it is already messed up.
The situation can kind of be explained in the style of a continuous cycle: the colleges need more money to help the students that rely on financial aid. The only way this can be done is by raising tuition which in turn provides more need for financial aid, a process that Astin refers to as “a sort of Catch-22 for colleges” (Astin). The story was an interesting one to read and Astin does make a point however the idea of free college for everyone is probably never going to happen – it just doesn’t seem possible given the differing sides of politics that surround us in society. Through this claim, I know I have already been proven wrong in one instance: SBCCD’s Free College Promise which guarantees free college for two years. Keep in mind, though, that this is only one area of an entire country but stranger things have happened.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-07/free-college-tuition-democratic-presidential-candidates
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I chose to look into more Fallacies for this journal entry, this is the first time in my life that I’ve heard of what they are; so I wanted more research on different ones. An article that I came across in the New York Times called “The Fallacy of the ‘I Turned out Fine’ Argument” by Justin Coulson. He is an Australian parenting expert, he states that he often interviewed for television and usually the producers prepare him for what they will discuss on air. He recalls one situation where he was caught off guard and they started a discussion on whether there should be a law banning spanking. He was seeing it on a scientific side of studies that have been done over that past five years on children and the ineffectiveness it has and the dangers of physical discipline it poses. They had viewers call in and say it shouldn’t be banned because since they were smacked as children and they turned out just fine. Meaning “If I had something happen to me and nothing went wrong, then surely it’s fine for everyone else.
The author points out that that statement is known as an anecdotal fallacy which is evidence solely based on personal experience of one person or a small number of people. The author then states that this argument has fatal flaws, because we are relying on a little bit of information that we only know; we as individuals do not know what others have gone through, so we cannot talk for others when it comes to serious topics. Just because one person was spanked as a kid and turned out fine, doesn’t mean the person sitting next them who was also spanked turned out like them.
The link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/well/family/the-fallacy-of-the-i-turned-out-fine-argument.html
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While looking for a topic to write about, I narrowed the decision down into Fallacies as that was the latest one, we talked about in class. When thinking about the numerous types of fallacies available ‘Ad Hominem’ seemed like the easiest one to find of an important figure. Such an important figure was our Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump. He tweeted against Democrats about how that since they were “unable to show any collusion with Russia” they are transitioning onto accusations against him by women that he has “never met.” He, Donald Trump, then goes on to end the post with “Fake News’ trying to show Democrats in a bad light to anyone who reads his posts. This tweet if for all his followers to assure them that attacks against him are failing and also portray him in a favorable light by making it seem that they are out to get him and Democrats are just waiting both time and money on trying to convict him of things he has not done.
This is a picture-perfect example of what we have been learning in class fallacies. To be more specific it is the ‘Ad Hominem’ fallacy in where one attacks a person rather than the persons opinion or stance. On my brief search in this topic it appears that this is a favorite of Trump, as it attacks the persons integrity, rather than reply in a matter that shoots down the questions he attacks the person and moves away from answering uncomfortable questions.
The link: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/940554567414091776
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While looking for a topic to write about, I narrowed the decision down into Fallacies as that was the latest one, we talked about in class. When thinking about the numerous types of fallacies available ‘Ad Hominem’ seemed like the easiest one to find of an important figure. Such an important figure was our Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump. He tweeted against Democrats about how that since they were “unable to show any collusion with Russia” they are transitioning onto accusations against him by women that he has “never met.” He, Donald Trump, then goes on to end the post with “Fake News’ trying to show Democrats in a bad light to anyone who reads his posts. This tweet if for all his followers to assure them that attacks against him are failing and also portray him in a favorable light by making it seem that they are out to get him and Democrats are just waiting both time and money on trying to convict him of things he has not done.
This is a picture-perfect example of what we have been learning in class fallacies. To be more specific it is the ‘Ad Hominem’ fallacy in where one attacks a person rather than the persons opinion or stance. On my brief search in this topic it appears that this is a favorite of Trump, as it attacks the persons integrity, rather than reply in a matter that shoots down the questions he attacks the person and moves away from answering uncomfortable questions.
The link: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/940554567414091776
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Health organizations, doctors, and scientists agree that vaccines are safe and effective. Despite this, there is a growing movement of parents and caregivers choosing not to vaccinate their children. Anti-vaccination myths are almost certainly contributing to this trend. Some people believe that there is little benefit in giving children vaccinations because the risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases is so low. This is a harmful anti-vaccination myth. Vaccine-preventable disease rates have dropped because immunization is now a widespread and common practice. Another anti-vaccination myth is that vaccinations may be harmful because they contain unsafe toxins. Although it is true that some vaccines contain substances that are harmful to the body in high amounts — such as mercury, formaldehyde, and aluminium — these chemicals are not as harmful as one might believe.
The body has exposure to these substances from various foods and through other products. For example, people consume formaldehyde when they eat fruit, vegetables, and even meat, including seafood and poultry.
Humans often come into contact with aluminum, which is present in water, food ingredients, and preservatives. Some fish also contain moderate or even high levels of mercury.
The quantities of these substances in vaccines are so low that they cause no harm to the body. I am planning on sending this article to my sister. I told her that she needed to research REAL articles, and not just think that whoever posts on facebook about anti-vaccinations is true.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325371.php#myths-and-facts
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I wanted to do an analysis of a video I found on vaccines and show how they convey Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. It is PBS preview for a special called “Calling the Shots” in which they show the dangers of going unvaccinated. In the video it says that old diseases are returning as more parents skip getting shots for their kids. In a world so connected and populated it makes it so much easier for those diseases to travel throughout communities. Although the majority vaccinate, there are still communities of people that do not out of fear and disbelief. It also covers the topic of Autism, and how there is no hard evidence that showed it being a result of vaccinations. Also in the special it explains how vaccines work and how they protect us from disease. Overall their message is that vaccines are good, we need them, and that we should listen to facts not fiction trying to scare us.
The preview uses pathos in multiple ways. I actually think that even this video was trying to show us we act off emotion and not evidence. It uses pathos when interviewing doctors and they explain how they have to watch kids die or get sick and feeling helpless because at that point they couldn’t do anything to help them. They also interviewed parents being confused and scared about vaccines because they didn’t know what to trust. It is also talked about a unvaccinated pregnant woman who had a miscarriage after getting measles. All of it tugs at your heart stings and makes you side with vaccines even more. Ethos is conveyed through the program PBS because it is known as a trustworthy source, and also through the doctors and real accounts of people used. Lastly there is logos which is used consistently throughout. They show studies of autism and how it starts while still in the womb, it also shows percentages and stats on vaccines.
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The article i am going to be writing on is “Logical Fallicies in the Gun Debate”. In it they basically show you “six of the most common logical fallicies”, Which are: Non Sequitur, False Dilemma/ False Dichotomy, Appeals to emotion, Strawman, Bandwagon, and lastly, Faulty analogy and gives the reader sub articles/ videos to look it. Non sequitur translates as “it does not follow.” They are more common in casual conversation than formal debate. The example they displayed was “if you continue to vote republican you taticly support the murder of children.” I don’t know if this is true or not but from what the media shows us it is always the same people who commit these crimes. I personally don’t have a problem with guns whatsoever so i could really care less if they raise the age, lower the age, ban them completely and the reason i say that is because the guns don’t kill, the people do and a lot of the time they just aren’t educated about it.
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/logical-fallacies-gun-debate
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Mexico’s Soaring Murder Rates Proves Gun Cobtrol is Deadly
This article give statistics in 2019 of the number of murders in Mexico. Mexico is said to have a very strict gun control law among it citizens; therefore, it isdifficult to own a gun legally in Mexico. Mexican officials blame the US for not having strict gun laws, which led to their citizens obtaining guns. The author attempt to prove this wrong by stating an incident in 2007 where Mexico submitted 11,000 gun to the ATF, though they seized 29,000 guns during that time. Only 6000 of those guns were traceable and of those guns, 90% were trace back to the US. The author concluded that only 17.6% of those guns could be traced back to America. Towards the end, the author states strict gun-control laws and high homicide rates often come together and pointed out 2 countries that fit this pattern.
I chose this article due to the fact that the gun control debate is filled with fallacies on both sides. The author points out one with the incomplete evidence stating 90% of guns that commit murder cake from the US. I’ll point out some Fallacies in this article. That gun collecting incident happened in 2007-2008 which is over a decade to the murders they talked about in the first 9 months of 2019; therefore, it is not current enough to be good evidence. In fact, this Mexico incident has little to do with the author’s real argument and objective, which is looser gun control. He “Cherry Picks” 2 countries that has high homicide rates with stricter gun control, but doesn’t show statistics on all countries with stricter gun control. The Gun control argument always seems one sided, and it’s usually on the side of whoever telling the story.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/mexicos-soaring-murder-rate-proves-gun-control-is-deadly-11571696723
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In the most recent breaking news of this week and weekend, was to hear that the head of the terrorist group ISIS had been eliminated over the course of the weekend. This has been a breakpoint to the current fighting in the middle east as President Trump has told the public about this event. Does it seem that most of the citizens of the United States have high hopes as this will weaken the terrorist group, but has anyone considered the fact that there could be potential runner ups to be the leader of them? Has anyone ever thought of why this leader was assassinated so easily? Just then after a day of the news, investigations popped up from the scene that it was not the United States military that killed him, but the leader, who goes by the name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had an explosive vest on him and detonated it, resulting in killing himself and others that were close to him at the time of the incident. “There, in a ‘dead-end tunnel,’ Trump said, the militant leader detonated an explosive vest, killing himself and three of what were believed to be his at least six children.” (Ryan and Lamothe, Washington Post). Now it this article did say that only three of his supposedly six sons are dead due to the detonation. Could these three left be the heir to be the next terrorist leaders? Not only that but can close friends of theirs also be selected? These are the questions that drive the American mind insane as we have to put it to the hands of fate for the future of the middle east.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-forces-launch-operation-in-syria-targeting-isis-leader-baghdadi-officials-say/2019/10/27/081bc257-adf1-4db6-9a6a-9b820dd9e32d_story.html
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In this week’s class we covered Fallacies, Rhetoric, Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. I was really interested in the Fallacies category this week. So after searching for Fallacies on google, I came across this wild video of President Trump campaign and the error of logic in his statements. He is talking about instead of addressing the question or argument, Trump attacks the person making the argument. Logic fallacies are not necessarily wrong. Containing some truth but not logically sound. You will realize in the video a lot of he knowledge is in Business and Real Estate and not the front office. You will see him sort of run from these questions and bring up topic he excels in. Rather then fight he uses language and certain words to twist his answers to the questions that are being ask. As he talks about how big the crowd is and the attendance you realize that is a bandwagon fallacy. No one knows the exact amount of people in attendance and on top of that it has nothing to with his announcement on running for President. Another Fallacy he then brings up is called a False cause. He talks about the other candidates did not know the A/C doesn’t work, and a result then will not be able to take down ISIS. None of which have anything to do with each other. It makes you truly start to think when uneducated people listen to him and aren’t really understanding what he is says. It is scaring to think about, hw people just follow and assume he means well.
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