Arguments & Fallacies in the Media
This is a topic the students love! After explaining many of the common fallacies of reasoning (see booklet), they compile their own collections. Here you will find examples of argument techniques both subtle and gross. I have kept the resolution reasonably high in case anyone wants to print them.
A favourite activity is to get students to write letters to the editor that contain deliberate fallacies and see if they get published.
This collection has just started, but will be added to on a weekly basis. They are presented chronologically (mostly) rather than by fallacy, as many have several fallacies in them (most are letters to the editor).
Here they are...
Original Article - Religion
and Atheism (not too bad); Responses (Shocking)
- Leave you to find the fallacies
Cricket
and war (A faulty
analogy, perhaps?)
Scientists
and Global Warming (Does
the analogy hold?)
Vegetarians and IQ (Post
hoc ergo propter hoc?)
But where is the argument? (Circumstantial
ad Hominem)
HIV a Hoax? (Onus of proof)
Anarchy
in the streets (Slippery
Slope)
Only fools disagree with
me - by definition! (Ad hominem, circular)
Political
hypocrisy (tu quoquo) - several examples
Faith about faith (Appeal to Tradition - first bubble, not the second...)
I'll be a Monkey's Uncle - or
Nephew, in this case... (A novel appeal to
association)
Algebra in Bikinis - Great for testing hypotheis so let your imagination
go
Non-sequitur, faulty analogy -
take your pick...
