The Truth About Numbers

Numbers in an argument are very ambiguous. They can be used in 2 ways. 1) to mislead or 2) to help. Who would've thought numbers can be used to deceive someone?

An example of misleading numbers would be:

More people are beginning to love Jamba Juice. Over the summer there sales have increased by 30%.

Although it may appear that there is nothing wrong about this statement--there is . This statement does not make clear how long the sales increase has been going on, has it progressively gone up or was 30% just a big jump in sales. What caused this 30% increase? Do they have a sale or a special (buy 1 get one free, etc). In other words the meaning of 30% has caused a complication.

An example of helpful numbers would be:

Many people drink Jamba Juice. Recent surveys show that over 80% of students has drank at least 1 smoothie in the past month. These numbers are helpful because this generic example kinda provides a source (recent surveys, should be more specific) and it show over a specific amount of time how many students have actually gone to Jamba Juice.

Watch out for statistics they could be out to deceive you. Always make sure the numbers are actually answering what the claim is actually trying to prove!

Appeal to Fear

On page 195 Exercise #3 is to find an advertisement that uses an appeal to fear. The advertisement that I have found is of a campaign started by mothers against drunk driving. In many of their commercials they use an appeal to fear because this is a very affective way to draw the attention of many people.

In this particular commercial the car accident would be enough to scare drivers into not driving under the influence but also other appeals to fear like the reference to Ken being in jail or Barbie being ugly with only one eye would also help to deter younger kids from drinking and driving because those consequences are probably not options they would want to experience. Barbie also uses an appeal to vanity with her statement about how she looks after her accident. This can be helpful in appealing to younger girls because throughout adolescence a females looks are a big deal.

Appeal to Emotion

Many people use appeals to emotion in order to provoke a certain action or reaction. These types of appeals are used very often and most frequently in advertisements or campaigns. For example in regards to the debate on abortion, those that are pro-life argue that abortion is murder. By saying that abortion is murder, those that are pro-life are compelled to think about abortion in this manner as well. By just thinking about the fact that abortion could be murder, many people might actually change their position on the issue.

A more general example would be:

If you drink Jamba Juice everyday, you will be healthy; but only those who want to be healthy will drink it.

This example is an appeal to emotion in that it is actually appealing to a person's health. Any normal person would want to be healthy so by reading this claim, they might actually begin to drink Jamba Juice more often in order to preserve their health.

Thats Too Vague-General Claims

Everyday people use vague statements that could either be considered true or false depending on how you interpret it; these types of statements, according to Chapter 8 in the Epstein text, are considered to be general claims. General claim statements make use of the terms "all", "some", "every".

Ex: Some of the smoothies at Jamba Juice are good.

This statement is a general claim because now the reader must think and try to figure out the following: Which of the drinks are good? How many of the drinks are good? and etc.

It is important to be able to recognize general claims so that you can think about what you are judging before you actually accept claim as true or false. Because people would assume the statement as true just because of the use of the terms "all", or "some", but a critical thinker would interpret the claim in ambiguous ways to determine is truth value.

Compound Claims

A concept that I found interesting in regards to Chapter 6 deals with compound claims. Compound claims are used many times throughout the day. A compound claim is a major claim with another claim in and of itself. For example, I will go to the store and buy a red shirt or a blue shirt. The major claim is that I will go to the store to buy a shirt. The compound claim is that the shirt will either be red or blue.

As mentioned before, Compound Claims are used several times throughout the day. My most recent encounter with a compound claim occurred this morning when my mom asked what would I eat for breakfast. I replied, " I will cook either pancakes and bacon or french toast and bacon for breakfast". My major claim was that I would cook breakfast. The compound part of the claim is that I would either be cooking pancakes and bacon or french toast and bacon.

False Advertisement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1vl5-6Axi4

The link above is to a Proactive commercial featuring celebrity skateboarder Ryan Sheckler a.k.a the star of MTV's "Life of Ryan". The main claim of this commercial is that Proactive will give users "clear , touchable skin". I would absolutely have to agree with this claim because I know many people that have used proactive including my younger and older brothers. From what I witnessed with their use of proactive was the total opposite of what is advertised. My brother who sought to remove his acne, ended up with an even worst skin rash. My younger brother just got blotchy skin.

I would think that since Ryan Sheckler promotes the product it would be somewhat accurate as to what it does. Also I think the commercial alone loses credibility at the beginning where it does not even begin to talk about the product until closer to the end. They put too much emphasis on the life of Ryan Sheckler creating an appeal to popularity or common belief. People would believe that just because Ryan Sheckler uses proactive and it "works" for him, that it would also work for themselves.

But I am here to tell you BEWARE of Proactive.

A Bit More About Fallacies

A fallacy is the result of a faulty premise. The premise is faulty because of the reasoning for the argument is bad. Chapter 11 of the Epstein text discusses some different types of fallacies. I will discuss the "Bad Appeal to Common Belief" because I find that a lot of people fall victim to this type of fallacy because it is so greatly used in almost everything.

The Bad Appeal to Common Belief is based on the assertion that if everyone believes a claim to be true then it must be true. This type of fallacy is used all the time especially in advertisement or throughout an ordinary day. Those that are guilty of using this fallacy tend to use a vast population as support to their claim. For example: "everyone" or "most people" or "everybody who is anybody" are common indicators of this fallacy. Those that use this type of fallacy rely on the majority to determine the truth of their claim.

A recent example of Bad Appeal to Common Belief:

-Little Brother: Mom, can you get me a hotel room for after prom for me and my date and a couple of our friends

-Mom: NO!!! Absolutely not!

-Little Brother: Why not? Everyone else's parents are getting them rooms

My brother assumed that by letting my mom know that everyone else's parents were getting them rooms, that my mom would change her mind. Needless to say, it did not. LOL.

A better example would probably be...

It is okay to drink alcohol in moderation when you go out on the weekends because most people do, and they aren't all alcoholics.