Fallacious Reasoning Blog Post

  You are a Training Specialist hired by Universal Medical Supplies, Inc. This organization has been experiencing low productivity and errors in communication in the workplace. As part of an ongoing professional development series, the Vice President of the Human Resources department has tasked you with creating Critical Thinking training materials. The materials will be presented in many forms and by various means to help improve productivity and communication in the organization. As part of the company’s training plan, they want to provide articles for the staff on the company’s intranet as required reading prior to other training activities. You will create one of those articles in the form of a blog post. It should provide an overview and give concrete examples of logical fallacies being used in the news and social media. Instructions Use online resources to create a blog post that illustrates how logical fallacies and audience manipulation appear in the news and social media. Social media may include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. Your blog post should be a minimum of 5 paragraphs that includes the following elements: An introduction to the topic of logical fallacies. 2 examples of audience manipulation in the news with a clickable link to the articles inserted in the blog post. Explain each fallacy example and how it is being used to manipulate the audience. 2 examples of audience manipulation in social media. Explain each fallacy example and how it is being used to manipulate the audience. The two examples can be from the same or different social media sites. Example: One from Facebook and one from Twitter. Insert a screenshot image of each social media post. A summarizing paragraph. References with links to your sources. Write your blog post in a Word document. Be sure to proofread for grammar and spelling. For assistance with logical fallacies in advertising, news, and social media, please see: What is a logical fallacy?  

Sample Solution

Have you ever encountered a news article or social media post that seemed incredibly persuasive, only to leave you scratching your head later? We're all bombarded with information daily, and sometimes, that information can be misleading. This is where logical fallacies come in. Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that manipulate emotions or exploit biases to make an argument seem more convincing than it actually is. Being aware of these fallacies can help us become more critical consumers of information.

Full Answer Section

   

Fallacies in Social Media:

  • Straw Man Argument: This fallacy misrepresents an opponent's argument to make it easier to attack. Imagine a social media post with the text "If you don't support stricter gun control laws, you don't care about children's safety!" (Image of social media post with straw man argument). This ignores the nuances of gun control debates and paints anyone with a differing opinion as heartless.
  • Ad Hominem Attack: This fallacy focuses on attacking the character of the person making the argument rather than the argument itself. A comment thread filled with insults like "You wouldn't know a good idea if it bit you!" in response to someone's opinion is a prime example (Image of social media post with ad hominem attack). This type of attack shuts down productive conversation.

Sharpen Your Critical Thinking Skills

By understanding logical fallacies, we can become more discerning readers and social media users. The next time you encounter a persuasive headline or social media post, take a moment to analyze the logic behind it. Is the argument based on evidence, or is it appealing to emotions or making unfair comparisons? By being critical consumers of information, we can make better decisions and avoid being manipulated.

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