Fallacies

The concepts that I believe that needs more explanation are fallacies. Most people do not realize that there are so many different types of fallacies. One type of fallacy that I feel is used by a lot of different people every day is the ad hominem fallacy or as it is also known as the personal attack fallacy. As you can guess from the second way of saying it is a fallacy that occurs when there is a disagreement and instead of refuting the argument the person personally attacks the other in order to make the argument seem invalid.

One other type of fallacy that really seems very commonly used in everyday life is the appeal to pity. When you use this you are trying to evoke emotions in order to initiate the proper response. You see this type of fallacy mostly when different types of organizations are advertizing something. For example, when you see the commercials on television about sponsoring a child in another country, the commercials show sad little children in black and white. This evokes emotions of many people which makes them sad for the children and makes them do what the commercial says, sponsor a child.   

What I've Learned

Starting the class I thought I knew the concepts, I looked through the book and I really didn’t see anything that I had not seen before. However, while going through the class I figured out that there were a lot of things that I did not know. I had gaps in what I had known and this class has helped me to figure out the things that I didn’t know.

For example, rhetoric devices, when I came into the class I had only known two, hyperbole and sarcasm. Now I have learned about euphemism and dysphemism. Also I had a small amount of knowledge of inductive and deductive reasoning and this class has expanded that knowledge considerably which has really helped me in other classes.  The class has also helped me to understand how to analyze things critically. I had known little of these subjects prior to the class and now I have a much better grasp of the concepts and it is helping me considerably in my other classes.

Favorite Parts and Least Favorite Parts

When I had first come into this class I was quite skeptical as to how the way the class would be structured. This is the first only online class I have ever taken and when I have taken other classes that are partially online I have never done very well. However, much to my surprise the class was much easier than I had thought previously.

The very best part of the class was the fact that the concepts that we learned, I had already had partial exposure to. This made the class and the concepts easy as well as worthwhile because I was building my knowledge on concepts I had thought I had already known. The bad thing about the class was the group projects, I really don’t have that much free time and very little of it is spent at San Jose State so this made it very difficult to do group meetings which made group projects get done last minute.  

Websites

This week there a web site that we were instructed to look over for help on the concepts that we are currently learning. The web site was the “Mission Critical” web site. At first glance anyone can see the problem that the web site is outdated in its look and really needs to be updated. Although, the web site itself contains a wealth of information that pertains to the concepts that we are learning right now. Also the web site gives you exercises that are supposed to be used to reinforce your understanding of the concepts.

This week we were really instructed to look at the “Introduction to Causal Arguments” section of the web site. This section a lot of information about causal arguments and it gives you specific exercises for this section. Again though, the formatting and old school appearance really takes away from the cite making it hard to read and less interesting because there are only words on the page.

Horoscopes

“Quickie

 Be careful to whom you show affection -- you don't want to send the wrong message.

Overview

You are still feeling fantastic, and should be able to get yourself embroiled in sweet situations that are nothing but sheer pleasure. It's fun while it lasts, and should make for good memories.”

This horoscope seems a little more specific than most that I have read in the past because it tells you the emotions that you are feeling. However this is still not specific enough to make the prediction believable. I really can’t say that I believe in horoscopes, they are just too broad of subject matter that any person can adapt to their day. Like in the horoscope that was for me a Taurus it says I’m feeling fantastic and anyone can say it applies to their life if there was a small glimmer of happiness in their day.

This itself proves the entire thing to be falsifiable in the way that there is too broad of a population that this may apply to and there can always be someone who disputes it. Overall the concept of horoscopes seems to be falsifiable because they are supposed to be general and they can apply to too many situations.

Incorrect Conclusions

I really do make a lot of incorrect conclusions. I work in retail so I meet many new people every day and meeting those people creates biases towards certain people like if a person is looking up a lot it usually means that they are lost and need help finding something and if they are talking on a cell phone you shouldn’t ask them questions or even say hello because they are busy.

There are many people who fit into these categories and that makes me think that everyone who is looking up a lot needs help and every person on a cell phone doesn’t want to talk. Although, I am wrong a lot of the time, I either end up asking the person if they need help or just not saying hello. Not everyone fits so not everyone needs help who is looking up needs help and sometimes people on phones say hello to me. I find out that I am incorrect by asking the people or not talking to the other people.  

Media Messages

When analyzing media you really need to look at the messages the media is sending to people. Media Messages are usually underlying messages that make people thing in a certain way. These messages are not always underlying though sometimes they are blatant messages that are said directly. They can even be messages that evoke the necessary emotions to elicit an emotional response.

An example of an underlying message in media is in movies. Movies seem to always contain a message in the end that is not always directly stated in the movie it may just be clear from the actions that the protagonist takes through the plot of the movie. This type of media messaging is mostly seen in children’s movies.

Directly saying media messages is mostly seen in news. There is usually a call to action type message in news coverage in which they tell how people need to act or think a certain way.

Emotional responses that come from media are usually through nonprofit organizations or other organizations that are aimed to help people. These messages usually are there because they want people to feel like they need to help. Which helps to promote their organization.