Logical Fallacies in News Stories
It has recently been observed that news stories are frequent offenders of presenting logical fallacies. There are various types of logical fallacies, such as anecdotal fallacy and accent fallacy. The former employs a single example or personal experience rather than persuasive evidence or logical argument. The latter entails leaving an unclear written section or replacing sentences with unexpected prosodic stress. This paper looks at two new papers that include logical fallacies: A Match of Middle-Class Miserabilists and a Naked Visitor Who Annoyed the Mountain. The author of this article noted that the fallacy sentiments made by the Joseph Pairin, the Tan Sri Deputy Chief Minister. He asserted that the earthquake that occurred in the country and which had killed eleven persons was attributed to the act of stripping naked by European tourists on top of Mount Kinabalu. He emphasized by saying, “Whether other people believe this or not, it’s what we Sabahans believe. When the earthquake happened, it’s like a confirmation of our beliefs” (Chan, n.d.). The argument seemed logical because, first, the people could not take this lightly because the mountain is considered sacred. Secondly, it could not be a mere coincidence that after some tourists exposed nakedness on the mountain then the earthquake occurred. It was clear that there was a connection between the two incidents. Thirdly, based on the beliefs of the Sabahans, a villager who was at the press conference commented that the spirits were angry because of that act of insolence. However, in reality, the occurrence of an earthquake is natural and can only be explained by natural geographical development. Relating a natural incident to a belief would be considered a fallacy.
Logical Fallacy in A Match of Middle-Class Miserabilists
The author of this article reported a logical fallacy that was developed by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition which had organized a march that started outside the American Embassy. It was attended by about 20,000 demonstrators who demanded for the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the American administration led by George Bush (O’Neill, n.d.). To emphasize their concern well, the demonstrators had to paint the US in a negative picture. They made claims that were choreographed to catch the attention of the Bush administration. They fallaciously quoted the 2002 ‘Letter to America' by Osama bin Laden. In the letter, they claimed that Osama accused the US of destroying the environment with gases and industrial waste more than any other country in the world. To make it worse, the US was remaining adamant to sign the Kyoto agreement with a malicious intention of securing the profits of its greedy industries and companies. By relating one of the world's prominent enemy of the US, the demonstrators were hoping to capture the audience of not only the US but also the world. However, the truth is that there is no place in the letter where Al-Qaeda that was led by Osama commented anything against climate change. The demonstrators applied a logical fallacy to present their message.
Conclusion
The two new articles reviewed in this paper presents two cases of logical fallacies. In the first article, the belief that the stripping of European tourists in a mountain considered sacred is associated with the occurrence of an earthquake. In the second article, the claim made by demonstrators that Osama was against climate change was fallacious.
Works Cited
Chan, Julia. Pairin: Naked Tourist brought on Mountain’s Wrath. Malaymail, (2015). Web. http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/pairin-naked-tourist-brought-on-mountains-wrath#UuGKsySXW526FzYY.97
O’Neill, Brendan. A March of Middle-Class Miserabilities. Spiked, (2006). Web. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/2071#.WijqjcW_3pc
