For your next argument, don’t just rely on the evidence, the kindness of your debate partner, emotion, or the sound nature of the argument itself—rely on stone cold logic. Or something close to it.
Add these new fallacies to your mental lexicon, and remember to argue with kindness (or else you’ll be feeling the mode of the Nobody Wants to Hang Out with Him Anymore Fallacy).
You may be familiar with some of the common fallacies like Ad Hominem, Slippery Slope, Circular Reasoning, No True Scotsman, and Argument from Authority. There are many common fallacies and hybrids.
For your arguing pleasure (and in the hopes you aren’t the Fool), here are several new fallacies we all keep repeating, whether in debate or daily life:
The YOLO Fallacy
The YOLO fallacy that says that whatever you do in honor of a Carpe Diem attitude is justified because you only live once when in fact you only die once (that we know of), you live every day, and life is pretty long. YOLO casualties should be kept to a minimum, because if people really lived like it was their last day alive, then we’d be in an even bigger mess than we already are.
So you have to be careful and how you treat people and things, not just once, but all day—every day.
The Big Crush Fallacy
Romantic crushes are called so because of that painful compression you feel when you realize that your crush doesn’t feel the same way—however, the Big Crush Fallacy has to do with the delusion that your crush likes you and is sending you cryptic signals. Avoid the “crush” here: that is, avoid the self-fulfilling prophecy or the want to believe in signs that aren’t actually there.
If you believe in something the same way that a person who has a crush on somebody believes that there’s a chance for romance with the target of their obsession, you can actually delude yourself into thinking that something is true when it’s not. Don’t get crushed.
The Recycle, Recycle, Recycle Fallacy
If we just keep recycling things that shouldn’t be in the waste stream—and that waste stream could be our veins, homes, and workplaces as well as our waterways—then we’re avoiding the fact that some of those things should be cut off at the source. Reduction or elimination should be the real solution. Why do we put up with pollution and poison? Because pollutants don’t always start out as pollutants—they can be suggested or agreed-upon solutions at first, and then they amass or dominate the “stream” and we find out their true nature (or that we just can’t recycle our way out of it).
If we reduce our intake or stop our consumption (plastic bottles, too much sugar, name your polite vice), then we’re actually getting at the root of the problem rather than rehashing the same set of problems that were created in the first place.
Just Keep Injuring People and Things Until It All Gets Better
This could also be titled the War is Peace Fallacy, which states, incorrectly, that somehow things will get better—magically—if we hurt enough people (and keep hurting, and keep hurting). The results of this common human fallacy are all around us, and sprinkled through history (and in every mafia, political thriller, and action movie out there, not to mention current events). It assumes that if we keep injuring, exploiting, using, and murdering people that, at some point, the resolution will present itself and things—for the house, company, or state—will become ideal. This is magical thinking at its worst, that the “lesson” that the perpetrators are inflicting will somehow become apparent to all, and all will be well in the end.
I Never Need Help, So I’ll Never Need Help
This fallacy’s inverse is also true: I always need help, so I’ll always need help. Don’t be afraid to see that doctor or ask your spouse or friend for an honest opinion. Things change, and there’s no shame in needing—or not needing—real, genuine, and lasting help every now and then.
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And if you need a great list of traditional fallacies to relearn or share, the folks at thou shalt not commit logical fallacies (among other great sites) have whittled down the long list of fallacies. Or read this amazing list from UNIV 1301 University Seminar Master List.
Add your own—or a comment—below!
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