February 8, 2008
What not to say ~ “How does it feel to have abandoned the cause of your life?”
A cable news show host opened his interview with a feminist political commentator who had just endorsed Obama with the question:
- How does it feel to have abandoned the cause of your life?
This remark is riddled with logical fallacies.
1) Absolute language / false dichotomy: It speaks of causes in black and white terms. Even if supporting a male candidate over a female one was a deviation for a feminist, that wouldn’t qualify as “abandoning the cause of your life.”
2) Reductive: It summarizes a complex situation simplistically.
3) Ad hominen attack: It attacks the person instead of the person’s position.
4) Assumption treated as fact.
Watch for fallacies in your own political conversations. Any time someone makes a claim or asks a question based on an assumption that is unwarranted, address the assumption instead of responding to the point made based on the fallacy.
You can read more about fallacies, here.
The woman who this comment targeted said: “Hardballs are just part of the game — and I am happy to stand in the batter’s box and take any of them on. But spitballs aren’t part of the game.”
It’s not part of the game for you either.
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