Ann's Column: Former professor says "Use Your Noggin"
Recently, I have noticed a Subaru advertisement. I like a Subaru, I like the advertisement, but I also recognize that the ad evokes feelings rather than facts. It is a perfect example of a Glittering Generality, a reasoning fallacy; it is meant to be warm and fuzzy; Subaru is love. Commercials, and public speakers use them a lot. It’s Mothers, apple pie, home, and ice cream. It is meant to appeal to feelings rather than facts. I see the glittering in a lot of commercials, but I also see what the advertisers are doing. It is a kind of manipulation. It’s harmless most of the time, but can be used as a kind of propaganda. It’s good to be aware of Glittering Generalities.
You can call me anything: Nosy Nellie or flaming liberal or birdbrain or tree hugger or commie. Yes, anything as long as you can give me a reason for saying it. Otherwise, it’s just Name Calling. In high school, my English teachers drilled students on Reasoning Fallacies. We had a big list of fallacies we had to learn such as Begging the Question, Bandwagon, Hasty Generalization, False Comparison, and others. For example, “Because thousands of people buy imported cars each year, they must be better.” That may be true or untrue, but it is a reasoning fallacy because it isn’t backed by facts. It does not explain how many or why the imports are better. I hear misuse of logic every day, but currently Name Calling is the fallacy that bothers me the most because often it seems to be deliberate. Perhaps people who use it are trying to be evasive or combative or maybe they just aren’t capable of giving facts, truths. Name Calling is common. What is popular along the Name Calling trail seems to depend on the times. In the 60’s, “hippie” was a negative term; “bra burner” is still used to paint a negative picture of a feminist. Dumb blonde, Nazi, naïve idiots, unchristian, dictator are all examples we hear today. One of the purposes of Name Calling is to get others to reject another by using negative or unpleasant terms. Politicians are frequent users, but most of us do too. Sometimes, we are just too lazy to come up with facts and resort to Name Calling. We often insult by using a label rather than facts. Often it is a tactic to belittle, to hurt, to attack rather than to give meaningful reasons. Of course, there are different levels of Name Calling; there are the rather innocent ones we use such as tree hugger, and there are those that are deliberate propaganda to invoke fear, dislike (butcher, Nazi).
Reasoning fallacies are good to know in arguments and rebuttals. Awareness is an important key to most things whether in conversation or watching TV. I wish more people asked for truth, not lies and evasions; that more required respect and dignity, not generalizations or name calling. Perhaps all of us need to be aware of any outrageous speech of any kind. Of course, facts can be dull, but think of it as physical therapy for your brain!
As my Dad used to say to me a lot, “use your noggin.” Of course he was telling me to use my common sense; to use my brain, not someone else’s; to think for myself.
