ENG124 Grossmont College Logical Fallacies Narrative Paper Logical fallacies are mistakes or deliberate distortions of logic. They result from muddled thinking, ignorance, or a deliberate attempt to deceive. They should be avoided by good writers, and we should be able to identify them when they are used by others.
After reading the logic handout located under Files, think back over situations youve been in and conversations with others. Think particularly about situations that have seemed unfair or nonsensical.
In a paper which is at least 4 pages of text in MLA format, write a series of short narratives (or one long one) where you describe three events and/or conversations, describe why they might represent logical fallacies, and what logical fallacies you think they represent. The analysis of the events can happen while you tell the story or afterward.
Make sure you identify the fallacies by name, and clearly show how your experience corresponds in some way with the categories of fallacies weve covered.
Cautions: It is acceptable to talk about events in popular culture that you experienced and believe to represent logical fallacies, but please keep in mind that the original assignment (above) is designed to reduce the temptation to commit plagiarism. This being the case, please be scrupulous in identifying both direct and indirect quotes, and provide a Works Cited page for any resources used. It is not acceptable to use events which have already been analyzed as fallacies by someone else as your examples. Logical Fallacies Narrative Paper Prompt
Logical fallacies are mistakes or deliberate distortions of logic. They result from muddled thinking,
ignorance, or a deliberate attempt to deceive. They should be avoided by good writers, and we should
be able to identify them when they are used by others.
After reading the logic handout located under Files, think back over situations you’ve been in and
conversations with others. Think particularly about situations that have seemed unfair or nonsensical.
In a paper which is at least 4 pages of text in MLA format, write a series of short narratives (or one long
one) where you describe three events and/or conversations, describe why they might represent logical
fallacies, and what logical fallacies you think they represent. The analysis of the events can happen while
you tell the story or afterward.
Make sure you identify the fallacies by name, and clearly show how your experience corresponds in
some way with the categories of fallacies we’ve covered.
Cautions: It is acceptable to talk about events in popular culture that you experienced and believe to
represent logical fallacies, but please keep in mind that the original assignment (above) is designed to
reduce the temptation to commit plagiarism. This being the case, please be scrupulous in identifying
both direct and indirect quotes, and provide a Works Cited page for any resources used. It is not
acceptable to use events which have already been analyzed as fallacies by someone else as your
examples.
animals or inanimate objects or even children. And if a man wants to become a woman? Who’s
to stop him from molesting my children if he is allowed to use their gender’s bathroom? Why
stop at a man identifying as a woman? He might as well identify as a dog or a helicopter or
another race. So the usual spiel went. Stating that being homosexual is a choice and repeatedly
emphasizing his belief that there are only two genders was also commonplace.
Unfortunate and hateful attitudes aside, his stated beliefs stand on shaky ground due to
the fact most of the things he says he takes issue with are formulations of a slippery slope fallacy
in action. It is simple to recognize it as such by first following his timeline of how things will
occur if gay marriage becomes commonplace. He argues that the next most likely occurrence is
marriage between humans and animals or inanimate objects. His argument has immediately
fallen apart as he appears to say that homosexuals are close enough to being non-human that it is
not far-fetched for them to want to marry something else non-human. His belief that
homosexuals are subhuman has become the true point of his statement. He wouldn’t say that a
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straight person would commit such atrocities as bestiality because in his mind they are normal
humans like him. This extends further to the idea of transgender people. Saying that the next
logical step in a man or woman wishing to be the gender is something as ridiculous as deciding
to identify as a helicopter only reveals his belief that something is already incorrect about them
deciding to identify as the opposite gender. He hasn’t proved his point in either case here
because instead of stating why it is wrong to be homosexual or transgender, he has attempted to
convince his audience that worse will come if such things are allowed. Additionally, he hasn’t
supplied historical evidence of such things occurring. No country that has legalized gay marriage
has further allowed legalization of paraphilia such as bestiality or pedophilia. Paraphilia, as
defined by the American Psychiatric Association, are characterized by sexual urges or
behaviors directed at non-consenting persons or those unable to consent like children, or that
involve another person’s psychological distress, injury, or death. This does not include
homosexuality or bisexuality. His arguments that such things will be commonplace is merely an
assumption that cannot confirm to a non-biased person that legalization of same-sex marriage
will cause criminal sex acts to become normalized. Whenever this former acquaintance would
make his argument, it was obvious to most listeners that didn’t already agree with him that he
was speaking from a prejudiced, preconceived notion and not a factual standpoint. He was just
using a slippery slope argument as well as a faulty analogy usually. However, those that already
agreed with him or at least some of the things he said were more likely to find his line of
thinking reasonable. In general he failed to make a successful rational argument because he
provided no factual evidence and wouldn’t have been able to acknowledge any historical
likelihood of such problems with the LGBT community occurring. Suffice to say, if such
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Joan Smith
Professor Robert Stafford
English 124
7 September 2018
My greatest weakness?” I repeat, pretending to carefully consider the question the
interviewer has asked me. “I’m too diligent, I end up saying (with some apologeticness in my
tone). There I go: stacking the deck in my favor for a job interview. I’ve left out that I get
nervous easily and that I am sometimes a slow starter when working in a new area and that I
have occasionally taken the easy way out on things when I’ve had the chance. On this occasion,
the interviewer jumped right on my answer and asked how is that supposed to be a weakness?”
I end up answering truthfully, my diligence is more like a one-track-mindedness, and I end up
getting the job. Stacking the deck
a common fallacy in job interviews, in meeting new people
and in any sort of applications for a position. No one wants to list their weaknesses if it means
they could be negatively affected by it. As a fallacy I am guilty of, stacking the deck seems all
too prevalent in my day-to-day life and I hope to one day improve myself so the full hand
doesn’t have any negatives that need to be hidden. But what of the other logical fallacies I see so
very often around me? In hindsight, recognizing fallacies is much easier once I’ve learned about
a few of them.
One of the fallacies I encounter most frequently is the slippery slope fallacy. In high
school, I had friends from all walks of life. Liberal friends, conservative friends, friends who
didn’t much care for political spectrums. Years after high school I still maintain contact with
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several people from each side and their identities have become even more ingrained.
Unfortunately, this leads to some extremist beliefs for many of them. Specifically, former friends
of mine that are deeply conservative have opinions on more liberal ideals that are more hateful
than reasonable. One person I know in particular seemingly has a prejudice against anyone in the
LGBT community. His belief is that the LGBT community is working together with the liberal
government to break down conservative ideals and the idea of the nuclear family unit (a couple
and their children). A man and a woman should make up the parental part of the family and the
children should be raised according to the ideals that make this country great, he would say. Two
men or two women therefore cannot be the parents and if such things are allowed what is
stopping such debauchery from becoming commonplace? Next will be men or women marrying
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Logical Fallacy Nar…
women. This comment took me by surprise and I asked him to clarify his statement. Well,
youre working in healthcare. Everyone knows you make beaucoup bucks in healthcare jobs.
And all your coworkers will be women, probably Asian women as well. The sweeping
generalizations were heavily distributed here, obviously. My new job had the same amount of
men as women working there and only two of the employees were of Asian descent.
Additionally, I wasn’t doing the job for the paycheck fortunately because it was less per hour
than what an average In-N-Out employee would make. If a census was done of all healthcare
jobs in the nation, it might be shown that a majority of the jobs were held by Asian women who
make an above average yearly salary. However, even if this was confirmed, the distribution of
this subset of healthcare workers would not end with a majority of such people in each healthcare
setting nationwide. The existence of the few hospitals and assisted living facilities I’ve worked in
alone has confirmed that this stereotype cannot be a correct generalization. I myself have been
guilty of certain generalizations as well but at least in this case the sweeping nature of it was
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obvious to me due to personal experience. Thus my friend’s argument wasn’t rational: not all
healthcare jobs will have the racial and financial makeup that he expects.
Fallacies are a dangerous issue. Whether they are used on purpose or unconsciously, they
can create harmful issues if they are used to spread ideas without being recognized as fallacies.
Being educated on the subject of fallacies can help combat this as fallacies come in many forms
that can be difficult to spot if they are seemingly sound reasoning. Hopefully in the future I am
able to see these in myself and others and improve the logic in my life.
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However, this same acquaintance had a friend who subscribed to the kind of alt-right”
way of thinking that many such hateful indoctrinations have been born from. If this other fellow
was present at one of these events that the aforementioned debate was taking place, he had his
own ideas to present on the subject. Well, gay marriage has been legalized, he might say, but
not all of us want our kids to think it is okay to be gay. After all, they’ll end up being mentally ill
and they’ll abuse drugs and alcohol like other homosexuals. Show us some evidence, the
opposed would chime in. This time, there was evidence to be found. Specifically, the fact that
homosexuality was a mental disorder according to the American Psychiatric Association until
1973 and statistics regarding levels of substance abuse in the LGBT community. Replying that
the declaration that homosexuality is a mental illness was removed by the APA and they now
state that it is just as healthy as being heterosexual may solve that part of the argument but the
statistics are seemingly more difficult to process. However, a study done in the last few years by
Ilan H. Meyer determined that high levels of stress from being a minority and a heavily
prejudiced against one at that is the detrimental factor that causes higher levels of substance
abuse. Meyer, a Distinguished Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute for
Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA’s School of Law explains in the article that,
“stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment that
causes mental health problems. After discovering this, it is apparent that the argument here is a
straw man fallacy. My acquaintance’s friend has told us that homosexuality is bad because
homosexuals are a group of drug-using, mentally ill but this idea of a homosexual acting this
way is not the majority of the LGBT community nor does it confirm that they are harmful
people. In fact, believing this himself only contributes to their further marginalization which can
have more dire consequences for their community. Again, to listeners who don’t take issue with
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the LGBT community, this idea of a straw man and the way in which it causes a self-fulfilling
prophecy is an obvious fallacy and argument that shouldn’t be perpetrated. It still confirms
biases held by conservative listeners but overall can’t be considered a successful and rational
argument because it is based on a character invented by my acquaintance’s friend in order to
decry the idea of a member of the LGBT community as a damaged individual.
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