Political and Media - Rhetoric Tricks of the Trade

Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies

YourLogicalFallacy.com

http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/

What do you think about this?  Somebody named "Jesse" created a webpage with a downloadable poster for free. It's going viral, being touted on several websites.  "Jesse" works in the advertising business, and wanted to teach his own two children the "dark side" of advertising so that they wouldn't fall for it.  His website claims that as he put it together into a simple format for his own children to understand, the idea was born to put it out there for everybody to have--parents of other children, teachers, college students, etc.  He even gives the "rights" to print it off and sell it, saying that if you're willing to put out the money and time to do it, then you may as well earn the money for doing it.  He just wants it out there!

What are rhetoric tricks that can be called "Logical Fallacies?"  Quote from website:  "A logical fallacy is usually what has happened when someone is wrong about something. It's a flaw in reasoning. They're like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by politicians and the media to fool people.  Don't be fooled! This website and poster have been designed to help you identify and call out dodgy logic wherever it may raise its ugly, incoherent head." 

One EXAMPLE from poster:  strawman

You misrepresented someone's argument to make it easier to attack.

By exaggerating, misrepresenting, or just completely fabricating someone's argument, it's much easier to present your own position as being reasonable or valid. This kind of dishonesty not only undermines rational discourse, it also harms one's own position because it brings your credibility into question - if you're willing to misrepresent your opponent's argument in the negative, might you also be willing to exaggerate your own in the positive?

Example: After Will said that we should put more money into health and education, Warren responded by saying that he was surprised that Will hates our country so much that he wants to leave it defenceless by cutting military spending.

As you move the curser over the "Logical Fallacies" 24 buttons, it will bring up a short definition. But if you click on the button, it will give a more detailed explanation as well as an example sentence for that particular "fallacy," such as copy/pasted above for one of them.  You will have to click the return arrow in the upper left-hand corner to get back to the main page.