I've just reread Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

Now, Lord, don't get me wrong. I LOVED that story as a kid. I was rooting for the plucky young mongoose all the way. I WAS the mongoose! I'd punch out asshole cobras in my sleep if I could. Reading it as an adult, however, lets a lot of really troubling implications come to light.

For those of you who had deprived, mongoose-free childhoods, here's a quick plot synopsis:

Read More

Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

When Event A occurs, Event B will also always occur, therefore Event A causes Event B.

Example A:
Lojika McPhallussy: The number of people infected with AIDS has increased at the same time the number of people using the internet has also increased. This must mean that using the internet is somehow tied to the transmission of AIDS.

Read More

Argument from Antiquity

We have done A in the past, therefore we should always do A.

Example A:
Ida Praposar: I'm going to attempt to grow some genetically modified potatoes. They're cow-shaped when mature!
Lojika McPhallussy: No one has ever attempted such a thing in the past. It's never going to work.

Example B:
Ida Praposar: My wife just bought a new car.

Read More

Appeal to Authority

Authority X believes in A, therefore A must be true.

Example A:
Ida Praposar: I'm going to take a flight across the ocean from California to China. I've always been a bit nervous of flying over large bodies of water, since I'm always afraid that the plane will fall in and I'll drown.
Lojika McPhallusy: Don't worry, you won't be flying across the ocean anyway.
Ida Praposar: Why not?

Read More

Guilt by Association

Person X supports/does A and if you support/do A you're just like Person X, therefore you should not support/do A.

Example A:
Ida Praposar: I would like to enroll my son in a seminary.
Lojika McPhallussy: Stalin attended a seminary as a child. Aren't you afraid your son will turn out like Stalin if he's put in one?

Example B:
Ida Praposar: I was thinking of converting to Islam.

Read More

Once, on a different forum, I had a debate with a moderator about the merits of Pascal's Wager. To prove his point he used an argumentum ad populum and an appeal to authority. Guess what's coming up next!

False Dilemma

Read More

To keep up the tradition, I'm going to keep posting one of these a day.

Argument from Ignorance

There (is no evidence/is not enough evidence/are too many holes in the evidence) for A, therefore A is false.
Also:
There (is no evidence/is not enough evidence/are too many holes in the evidence) against A, therefore A is true.

Example A (a very popular one!):

Read More

Not a grammar post for once!

Back when I was about sixteen or so, I used to mod a debate subform on a very small IPB board. It was a pretty cozy environment, one where everyone knew everyone else.

The thing is, even with people who aren't complete strangers, they still end up retreading the same arguments over and over and over again. Also, most of the arguments are STUPID.

Read More

Most of y'all are prolly already familiar with adjectives and nouns. Nouns are things like objects, or people, or ideas or whatever (bat, apple, friend, honour, so on and so forth). Adjectives are words that you use to describe nouns (pretty, awkward, formal, stupid). It's pretty simple stuff.

A noun adjunct, which some peeps call "attributive nouns", are pretty much just nouns that you can use to describe other nouns. In a nutshell, they're nouns that you use as adjectives.

Read More

It has recently come to my attention that...

Aw fuckit. I couldn't be all Mrs. McFormalpants if it came and bit me on the buttcheeks.

Anyway, yeah. Seems like there are some people who don't seem to know how to use proper nouns very well or know when they should be capitalized. Imma do my best to 'splain this out so that it makes sense to all the slow, or ESL, people like me* out there.

Read More