We are communicating everyday in our lives; exchanging thoughts, expressing ideas, and making a discourse. And one of the most used venue for discourse is SOCIAL MEDIA. Well, we are all witness to what's this platform turning into right now. Instead of a place for expressions; it's gradually turning into a site for toxicity. Sadly, because lots of people didn't or just don't want to recognize their faults in reasoning when making a stand for a certain topic. In a nutshell, they are commiting fallacies.
What is a fallacy?
Fallacies means the faulty or wrong reasoning used in an argument. Sometimes, fallacies are made to make the arguments look correct but it's not.
I write this article to list down only 5 common fallacies commited in the Facebook, hoping that this will help everybody in spotting faults in reasoning and make a better and healthier arguments. Anyway, arguments doesn't necessarily means heated exchange of words, but it is a reason or a set of reasons given that aims to persuade someone that a certain action or thing is right or wrong.
5 Common Fallacies
1. Ad Hominem
For me, this is the worst fallacy that a person could commit in an argument. It would make the whole discourse unhealthy and sometimes will lead into fighting. Ad hominem is a latin word which literally means "against the man/person," so as the word suggests, it is an act making an attack to the person instead of the argument itself. It is also a form of insult to the opposition, especially that it may contain name-calling, trashtalking and swearing. A person may also criticize a person's life, background, physical appearance and everything that has nothing to do with the core topic.
Such example for that,
“Look at that face! Would anyone believe for that?”— face is irrelevant with truth tho.
2. The Strawman Argument
This is a common fallacy in a debate, and sometimes in the facebook. Spotting this kind of fallacy is quite hard because it sounds correct and effective when use to rebut a claim. Strawman Argument means, instead of contending someone's claim, he/she would attack an equivalent claim(not exactly the claim) or a distorted version of the claim. Suppose person A making a claim; then person B will try to attack a distorted version of the claim in order to refute person A's original claim.
Such example for that,
"Scientist: Evolution explains how animals developed, adapted and diversified over millions of years.
Opponent: If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? And why don't we have three arms? Wouldn't that give me a competitive advantage?"
—Truth is, Charles Darwin didn't mention that we evolved from monkey; humans and monkeys only shares the common ancestors. The opponent's arguments was faulty because they base it on the misunderstanding of the theory.
3. False Dilemma/False Dichotomy
Another annoying fallacy that people commit in the social media, especially when it comes to politics. False Dichotomy or False Dilemma means that it presents a choice between two different options, implying that there are no other options.
Example for that,
" Either you supports the war of drug campaign, or your a drug dependent."— worst argument.
4. Hasty Generalization
It is a rush conclusion based on only a portion of the truth. People sometimes make a general statement without even finding a sufficient evidence to support the claim. Product of such fallacy are stereotyping, exaggeration and overstatement.
Example,
"All boys are liar." — chat me😏
5. Appeal to the Authority
It means having a person of authority supporting your stand and make it look true. This is fallacy in a fact that a person of authority's statement could not be guaranteed truth. It can't be used as a validation to someone's stand.
Example for that,
"Are you saying that you have a better fashion taste than an actress?"— it depends 😅
There are still more fallacies that I haven't discuss yet, hopefully I could discuss some more. Hope you learn something from reading this.
Thanks.
