fallacies

3/4/12
Fallacies I’ve Used I have use many fallacies on a daily basis, but I have noticed that the fallacies I use the most are the appeal to bandwagon, poisoning the well, and apples and oranges. I appeal to bandwagon by always using peer pressure whenever I try to convince people to do things. For example during my senior year in high school, the upcoming senior ditch day was coming up and I tried to convince my friends to skip the day with me. To convince them, I said that most seniors in our school will ditch that day also, so they should to. I also said that since most people would not be there, they would be the only one attending their classes making them losers. This is appeal to bandwagon because I to convince my friends I said all the other senior students would be ditching so they should also. Another time I used appeal to bandwagon was when I tried to convince anyone to support an artist I listen too. This was when one of my favorite artists just released their new album, and I wanted to do everything I can to support them. To convince others to buy their album, I showed them statistics on how well the album is selling. This is appeal to bandwagon because to convince others to buy my favorite artist’s album, I showed others the high sales of the album showing that many people has bought it so far, so they should buy a copy too. The other fallacy I always use is the fallacy of poisoning the well. One example is when someone asks for my opinion. My opinion tends to always shape their thoughts of the subject were dealing with. For example whenever anyone takes teachers I have taken before, they ask me what they could expect in that particular class. One time I told them that the teacher they were taking was really harsh and over works his students. Before they even met for their first class together, the people I told my opinion to have dropped the class already. This is an example of poisoning the well because before they ever faced the teacher, I have already influenced them with my own opinions leading to them dropping out before seeing the teacher in person. Another fallacy I consistently use is the fallacy of apples and oranges. One example of apples and oranges I use is whenever I try to convince my parents to give me something. One time when I was younger, I really wanted to buy a new tennis racket and to convince them that I needed one I said that when I get the new racket my grades would go higher. I tried to correlate with me getting something I wanted, leading to my grades going up. This is an example of the fallacy of apples and oranges, because I compared two things that do not logically connect. In this case it is the acquiring a new racket to getting better grades which in reality does not relate to each other.