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A Manner of Speaking
By anitamckay on 2010-05-19 09:30:40
A lot has been written about the dumbing down of America. One journalist and historian, Susan Jacoby, has given a
plausible account of this process, dating back to the founding of the country, in The Age of American Unreason. It is a
thought provoking book. Others blame the school system, a political party different from theirs, or immigration. Whatever
the cause, the effects are evident. One effect of this dumbing down has been the descent of public dialog into the area of is
not-is too screaming across a widening abyss. Do we have to wait until it is too late to decide that we don't want to live in
that abyss to do something about how we talk to each other? How do we return to some effective ways to communicate? Is
logic taught widely in high school or college any longer? If it isn't, the subject could be revived as a required course.
Learning about logic could help people who want to discuss issues do so productively. Logic could also help people notice
the flaws in what they are being told. Dozens of logical fallacies have been identified. Here are a few of the more common
ones:
e Ad Hominem: The term translates as "against the person". Person A makes a claim. Person B makes a personal attack
on Person A and uses that attack to discount the validity of Person A's claim.
e Straw Man: Person A holds a particular position. Person B presents a distorted version of the position and attacks the
distortion.
¢ Appeal to Emotion: Favorable emotions are attached to a particular statement, leading people to believe that the
statement is true without examining it.
¢ Appeal to Fear: The person making the appeal makes a statement intended to induce fear in the listener. Then a
statement is presented as true which may have nothing to do with the first statement.
¢ Appeal to Authority: A person is an authority on X. Therefore the person's statement, whether on that subject or not,
must automatically be true without further examination.
Another valuable tool for effective communication has nothing to do with logic yet is a needed ingredient: facts. Shall we
try?
