Posts tagged fallacy.

S. Fred Singer is the KING of climate denialists. In this presentation, he discusses how denialists can defend their position. If you can’t stomach watching it, I’ll do you the favor and summarize the denialist technique:

  • Step one, call the other side names
  • Step two, call the evidence presented names (e.g., “THE IPCC IS A JOKE!”)
  • Step three, USE ALL CAPS AND/OR YELL
  • Step four, take quotes out of context
  • Step five, place technical scientific jargon in “quotes.” This serves to make fun of the term, which somehow shows the term is false. (e.g., “Climate alarmists point to so called, “climate computer models”“.). It’s easy to manipulate most people, since they are unfamiliar with these fancy terms.
  • Step six, point to a graph and state that graphs can be made up. Dive into a conversation about how statistics can be manipulated. Do not provide evidence that the graph you are pointing to is actually true or false. 
  • Step seven, create a diversion. This is best performed by claiming the science doesn’t show x thing. (e.g., “What this silly little graph doesn’t show is, blah blah.”). Again, always make fun and never, ever show evidence.
  • Step eight, blend any of the above fallacies into one sentence and a presto! You are a denialist! 

For a list of other fallacious techniques used by denialists, have a look here.

#denialist  #climate change  #bullshit  #lol  #s. fred singer  #technique  #lies  #video  #ad hominem  #fallacy  #logic  
∞  06/20/12 at 01:21pm
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mindbabie5-deactivated20120604 asked: that rant @ think progress: NAIL ---> HEAD

Thanks! Progressives need to hold their own accountable for sloppiness and bullshit. I also noticed a few reblogs also complained about it.

Let’s hope TP gets the memo…

#think progress  #progressives  #accountability  #rant  #A dicto simpliciter  #fallacy  #card stacking  #journalism  
∞  03/24/12 at 02:30pm
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A woman who threw flour at Kim Kardashian: Arrested immediately. The man who killed Trayvon Martin: Still free.

DEAR THINK PROGRESS:

  • STOP IT. JUST. STOP.

Think Progress is trivializing a tragic death. It’s exploiting a tragedy for clicks. The above headline is an example of Think Progress’s nonconstructive, petty, purposefully-agitating blogging style.

And dammit, it’s gotta end.

The left is supposed to stand for truth, not corporate clicks. This type of headline serves nothing more than to incite. It does not address the complex contours of the law. Instead, it exploits ignorant readers and manipulates them into thinking that the law is biased against certain people.


If, as TP would have, the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws are so obviously flawed, then make that simple argument using facts and supportive evidence. In other words, focus on the truth, and not fallacious false equivocation.

Stop exploiting your readers. We are not stupid. We have the capacity to understand the history of a law.

On the other hand, I could be misreading the purpose of Think Progress’s mission. Perhaps TP bloggers don’t have the capacity to explain obvious social maxims or flawed legal manifestations.

Perhaps TP only wants to exist on the fringes of shock journalism.

Either way, no one in law is making this argument. It’s stupid. It’s disrespectful to Martin’s family, and utterly mocks journalism’s central purpose of reporting unbiased truths.

Think Progress’s headline is not progressive, it’s regressive.

STOP IT.

Sincerely,

</rant>

(via think-progress)

#trayvon martin  #cult of personality  #celebrities  #justice  #agitating liberals  #stop it  #rant  #journalism  #card stacking  #think progress  #false equivalence  #fallacy  #A dicto simpliciter  
∞  03/24/12 at 12:02pm via abcnews.go.com
1,693 notes

"Gas Fracking Industry Using Military Psychological Warfare Tactics and Personnel In U.S. Communities" ›

Kind of a weird article from DeSmogBlog accusing PR agencies of illegally using psychological military techniques against land owners in order to, I don’t know, sell their land or something. The author gives evidence by 1) pointing to a PR guy blabbering at a PR conference and 2) pointing to a gas fracking FAQ flier left in a woman’s driveway.

Making the connection from tactless PR to scary-illegal seems more than a stretch, it’s wishful thinking.

“At the “Media & Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011” conference last week in Houston, Matt Pitzarella, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Range Resources, revealed in his presentation that Range has hired Army and Marine veterans with combat experience in psychological warfare to influence communities in which Range drills for gas.  

As CNBC reported, Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella boasted to the audience:

“[“…looking to other industries, in this case, the Army and the Marines. We have several former PSYOPs folks that work for us at Range because they’re very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments. Really all they do is spend most of their time helping folks develop local ordinances and things like that. But very much having that understanding of PSYOPs in the Army and in the Middle East has applied very helpfully here for us in Pennsylvania.”
[**Listen: MP3**]

At that same conference, Matt Carmichael, External Affairs Manager at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, suggested three things to attendees during his presentation:

“If you are a PR representative in this industry in this room today, I recommend you do three things. These are three things that I’ve read recently that are pretty interesting.

“(1) Download the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual [audible gasps from the audience], because we are dealing with an insurgency”

Source: DeSmogBlog

#desmogblog  #wishful thinking  #fallacy  #fracking  #natural gas  #gas  #Marcellus Shale  #pr  #conference  #texas  #houston  
∞  11/11/11 at 04:52pm
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