Logical Fallacies are at the Heart of Social Media

By Rich Kozlovich

 I saw a piece on LinkedIn yesterday titled, How Social Media Works.  This followed:

I say that I prefer mangoes to oranges.

You say, so basically what you're saying is you hate oranges?  You also failed to mention pineapples, bananas, and grapefruits.  You need to educate yourself.  I'm literally shaking. 

What's the theme?  Logical fallacies, misdirection and self righteous moral outrage.  And all the first person said was they preferred mangoes over oranges!  

Well, that's the trend with all these social media trolls.  Logical fallacies, non sequiturs, misdirection and projection.  Very little logic or facts, especially on the topic being discussed. 

In dealing with these people it's important to read, study and understand logical fallacies and how to overcome them.  What 's a logical fallacy?  Here are three explanations:

• A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning common enough to warrant a fancy name.
• Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your argument. Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, and are often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim.
• A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid. It is also called a fallacy, an informal logical fallacy, and an informal fallacy. All logical fallacies are non sequiturs—arguments in which a conclusion doesn't follow logically from what preceded it. 

Well, that all sounds clear as mud, so here's the real answer.  Logical fallacies are illogical ways of coming to conclusions.  It doesn't  mean the conclusion is wrong, it merely means the conclusion was reached in an illogical manner.  But it's more complicated that that because they're used so often to undermine actual logic and facts by use of what's called red herring fallacies, subtly changing the subject.  Misdirection.

However, they're all easy to overcome, but first you have to know them, and then you can  recognize them, and once recognized, you win!  And why do you win?  Because those using these tactics are deliberately being dishonest.  That's why you win!

Here's the list, and there's an awful lot of them.  Many of which are incomprehensible, and in point of fact, people who originated some of them can't explain them and those dealing with mathematics are truly incomprehensible, and some seem to be duplicates with small variations, as if they were developed at different time frames, and different geographies.

But there's hope.   There are about 140 logical fallacies with about 50 that should to be read and only 10 to 25 that really need to be understood as they're the ones that keep being repeated. 

Here's a site that says, 15 Logical Fallacies You Should Know Before Getting Into a Debate

Since misdirection (red herrings) and non sequiturs (unrelated or inaccurate statements) are already discussed, let's deal with the last two: Projection, and moral indignation!

Projection is when one party accuses another party of doing the very things they're doing themselves.  This is a common tactic from the left and is an unending corrupt hypocrisy used by leftists, Democrats, socialists, communists, academics....well.... you get the idea.  And we're seeing that being played out now more than ever from these leftist misfits.  It's a plague on the American landscape.  

But the worst of is the phony moral outrage of leftist snowflakes, expounding how your view makes them "shake" with emotional and moral outrage.  Well, I have the answer to that also.  

Who cares? Get a diaper!