Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Catalog of Errors

When reading opinion pieces and their comment sections I often find glaring logic errors that stand proudly unaware of their falsity. I will list some of them below to try and find the major categories most commonly employed by otherwise rational people. I know this will never be completed but I wonder how many species of error I can run across. My goal is to be as specific as possible to the *logic* of the statement.
  • "It has worked. Perhaps it was not meant to be around forever but it has provided many opportunities for people." - Slate
    Error: Because a solution benefits some does not mean it is a good solution for all. 
  • "I have been called a fat camel and a hairy ape and a dirty terrorist ever since I moved to the U.S. at the age of 13, so – I’m used to it. But call some people out for wearing genie pants and makeup, which are supposed to make them look Arab, and they go nuts." - Salon
    Error: Unwarranted conflation of different groups. Some, not all, people expressed a particular opinion in the first instance. That group can be a completely different set of people from those who reacted in the later case. Different instances, difference groups. 
  • "Others join in the fray, happily marching in lockstep with those who are attempting to convert our nation to something we won’t recognize, having no idea that they are being used. Vladimir Lenin is sometimes credited with coining the phrase “useful idiots” to describe such individuals." - National Review
    Error: Different is not inherently wrong or bad.