Identifying Fallacies
Each of following brief arguments are flawed, falling prey to at least two (some have more) different fallacies. Identify two different fallacies for each article/excerpt and give a brief explanation as to why each one you identify is fallacious in its reasoning.
#1
Croatian Lumberjack
A Croatian lumberjack developed a sudden interest in knitting and housework
after receiving a woman's kidney in a transplant. "They never warned me
about the side effects," says Stjepan Lizacic, 56. "My wife is the only
one who is pleased." His wife, Radmila, concedes she is enjoying the
newfound help around the house. "I only hope," she says," he doesn't start
looking at other men.
#2
Arizona Ticket
A pregnant Arizona motorist has failed to convince a judge that carrying an
unborn child entitled her to drive in the car pool lane. Candace Dickinson
argued in court that when she was stopped for using a lane reserved for cars
with two or more occupants, she was counting her fetus as a passenger.
Citing "common sense," Judge Dennis Freeman let her $367 fine stand. Sgt.
Dave Norton, the officer who issued the ticket, said that Dickinson's logic
"would require officers to carry guns, radios, and pregnancy testers, and I
don't think we want to go there."
#3
Patriotism or racism?
Australians this week became embroiled in a divisive national
debate after organizers of an annual outdoor rock concert asked people to
refrain from waving the Australian flag. The Big Day Out is held in cities
across the country for several days around Australia’s national day. At the
concert in Sydney last year, some whites wrapped in flags beat up Lebanese
immigrants, and this year’s organizers were determined to avoid a repeat. “Last
year, the Australian flag was being used as gang colors,” said the event’s
coordinator, Ken West. “It was racism disguised as patriotism, and I’m not going
to tolerate it.” His request to “leave the flags at home” was widely reported as
an official ban, which it was not. Still, Prime Minister John Howard denounced
the move as “stupid and offensive to millions of Australians.”
#4
The New Bling
The rapper Jay-Z is seen in his new video flashing 500-euro bills, and the
supermodel Gisele Bundchen reportedly asked to be paid in euros, not dollars.
Are euros the new bling? Jay-Z's video speaks for itself. It was
enough to sned Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money" over the edge. He
said the rapper and the model shared blame for last week's market plunge.
He added, though tongue in cheek, that "When things have gotten to the point
that even people like Gisele and Jay-Z realize the dollar is too weak, things
have gotten out of control."
#5
Muslim
Humor: Take My Imam—Please!
Who says Muslim clerics don’t have a sense of humor? asked
Mike Carlton in
The Sydney Morning Herald.
Australians are in high dudgeon once again over the rantings of Sheikh Taj
el-Din al Hilaly. He’s the Australian imam who offended everyone last fall by
proclaiming that unveiled women looked like “uncovered meat.” Last week, he was
at it again, this time on an Egyptian talk show, on which he dissed Australians
for their convict heritage. “Anglo-Saxons came to Australia in chains,” he said,
“while we paid our way and came in freedom. We are more Australian than they.”
The outcry here was predictable—and misplaced. “Nobody seems to have considered
that the canny old cleric just might have been playing it for laughs.” After
all, Aussie comedians make jokes about our origins all the time. “You got to
admit it’s funny shtick.” And delivered in Arabic, “it might have been even more
of a thigh-slapper.” Instead of getting all huffy, we should encourage al Hilaly
and other witty imams to open a comedy club where they could show Australians
their warm side. Hey, it worked for the Jews in America. Soon we could have our
own Muslim Woody Allen.
#6
Sexy Little Halloween
Americans are expected to spend nearly $2 billion on Halloween costumes by the
time trick-or-treating wraps up—almost twice as much as they spent in 2003. And
the increasing popularity of sexy costumes for adults is spilling over to kids’
outfits—with catalogs offering skimpy outfits for girls as young as 6—and has
made the annual parent complaints about “slutty” outfits louder than ever this
year, according to parents and retail experts.
Once the night became big business—the bill for all our
costumes, decorations, and candy will reach $5 billion this year—it's only a
matter of time before somebody starts selling fishnet tights for first-graders.
The Halloween costume trend is not only leading to tense mother-daughter
standoffs, but it is also part of a far larger worry that either young girls
feel obligated to wear these costumes, since it’s part of society’s relentless
push to make girls judge each other by sexiness and body image, or they wear no
costumes at all, deprived of participating in what was once a fun thing.
With adolescent girls parading around in short-shorts that say JUICY across the
bottom, and every younger girls aspiring to be a diva of some sort, no doubt the
next thing we'll see is little trick-or-treaters looking like “ladies of the
night.” The problem is, this isn’t a once-a-year thing—it’s part of society’s
relentless push to make girls judge each other by “sexiness and body image.”
Costume parties have been reduced to “Slutty Outfit” contests, said the Canadian
National Post’s Posted Toronto blog. How positively edgy. “You're all
sexy cops or sexy nurses. Please rescue me from your unoriginality.”
Get used to it, said David Frum in American Public Media’s Marketplace.
“Halloween today ranks as the fourth most lavish national holiday event, behind
Christmas, the Superbowl, and New Year's Eve.” The fastest spending growth is
coming from college students, who have turned Halloween into a raunchy,
one-night Spring Break. And everyone knows it’s cheaper for merchants to lure in
shoppers by tacking the word “sexy” onto the names of their costumes than it
would be to take out ads.