How I’m preparing for the presidential campaign

With eighteen months to go in the presidential campaign, I decided to procure a survival manual, which I’ll use liberally, not conservatively, as the political rhetoric heats up.  The survival manual in question is an excellent little book about how not to get fooled by fallacious or manipulative reasoning.  The book is Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies, by Robert J. Gula.  At nine dollars, it’s a bargain. 

Emotional language, propaganda, diversion, and evasion are not the proper tools for critical thinking and scientific discovery; when unaccompanied by sufficient evidence and reason, they are nonsense.  They do, however, work effectively for persuasion and manipulation.  Why?  Because, as Gula points out early in the book, critical thinking and analysis is difficult; it’s a lot easier for us to trust others who share our already-chosen ideology and who talk as if they’ve already done the hard work for us.  Here’s the quotation he chose for the beginning of his chapter on logical fallacies; it’s from Thackeray’s novel, Vanity Fair:

Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt, are these not the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world?

If you get a copy of Gula’s book, you’ll be equipped to sort out and categorize most of the nonsense we’ll be hearing for the next year and a half.  A few examples:
• “Cut spending or raise taxes” = false dilemma;
• “Tancredo is a xenophobe” = personal attack;
• “Thousands of scientists agree that humans are causing global warming” = appeal to the bandwagon;
• “Global warming is really a global, left-wing political movement” = hasty generalization;
• “Ethanol subsidies and tariffs promote energy independence” = diversionary appeal to the Iowa caucus voters;
• “The debt is 9 trillion and growing” = appeal to large numbers without context;
• “Foreigners own more than half of our federal debt” = appeal to fear, glittering generality, and outright falsehood. 

Those are just a few examples.  Developing the ability and agility to categorize the nonsense talk as fast as it comes at us—from all directions—is like getting good at counting cards at the blackjack table, or at swinging the mallet in whack-a-mole.  For the upcoming presidential campaign, I intend to be skillful with the mallet, and Nonsense is the playbook I’ll use to polish my reflexes.  I hope I'm not alone; our politicians deserve to get better questions than they've become accustomed to. 

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End notes:

1: A concise summary of logical fallacies is on the web: Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies.  It’s one of my most-clicked bookmarks, a good quick-reference to have at hand—in addition to Gula’s book above.

2: Although manipulation is always undesirable, persuasive tools and techniques can frequently yield beneficial results—if and when they complement sufficient evidence, reason, and critical thinking. 

3: I'm like everyone else: imperfect at the processes of critical thinking.  I'm almost always thinking about it, however. 

Comments

[pawnking]

Indeed, most don't even grasp the elements of grammar, much less the harder logic, or the lofty heights of rhetoric. Are we so surprised that politicians, who generally are masters of rhetoric, can so consistently and easily confuse the argument among the many who have such trouble with even such basics?

[JorgXMcKie]

I'd deny that politicians are 'masters of rhetoric' unless we are considering only the lowest forms. Mostly they grab a fallacious argument that works for them and just hammer it repeatedly. That's hardly inspired rhetoric of any kind.

And what about the Peewee Herman "So's your old man" type of response in an effort to derail an argument against which you have no basis to argue?

[Stephen Reed]

Very nice. If only we could get such critical thinking skills taught at the public schools.

[Opinionated Vogon]

Stephen,

Critical thinking skills are the last thing our leftist indoctrination centers (a.k.a. our schools) want to teach. If you have not already watched, I suggest you listen to Evan Sayet's address to the Heritage Foundation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c

[Bob]

I'd be happy if the schools would teach the three R's and authentic American history.

Isn't nonsense the definition of B.S.?

Steve, You're book will be dog eared and worn I'm sure at the end of this.

And all of this circus for the two parties to nominate someone after which we will have a choice between only 2 people.

[DWMF]

I would suggest that this book is read in conjunction with "Straight and Crooked Thinking" by Robert Thouless. Also a useful tool for piercing political flimflam.

[Steve]

Somebody is selling the Thouless book for $150 at Amazon; must be a collectors item. A bit steep for me.