18 Jun Genetic Fallacy – FT#1
Show notes
The Genetic Fallacy doesn’t have anything to do with genes. Rather, it relates to the ‘genesis’, or origin, of an argument. When someone commits the Genetic Fallacy they are basing their decision about whether a claim is true or false on who is making the claim, or where it originated.
Trump
We started out by discussing this clip of Trump accusing Judge Curiel of bias:
Then we talked about these competing tweets about CNN’s ratings:
CNN just posted it’s most-watched second quarter in history. Those are the facts.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) June 27, 2017
And finally we looked at this tweet about global warming:
The people that gave you global warming are the same people that gave you ObamaCare!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2013
Mark’s British Politics Corner
Mark talked about this clip of Boris Johnson accusing Russia of stuff they probably did:
Fallacy in the Wild (Sting – kind of a weird David Attenborough impression)
In the Fallacy in the Wild we looked at this clip from Friends:
Then we discussed this clip from South Park:
Fake News
Here are the statements from this week’s Fake News game:
- You know, I was saying it the other day because we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in space. I said, maybe we need a new force. We’ll call it Space Force. And I was not really serious. Then I said, what a great idea. Maybe we’ll have to do that.
- Before I was president, I had a lot more time on my hands, which, by the way, are not small. They’re totally normal. If anything, a little bigger than average. And I’ve never had any complaints, if you know what I mean. Believe me.
- Nuclear is so powerful. My uncle explained that to me many, many years ago. The power. And that was 35 years ago. He would explain the power of what was going to happen, and he was right. Who would have thought? But when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners now, it used to be three, now it’s four. But when it was three, and even now, I would have said, it’s all in the messenger. Fellas. And it is fellas, because, you know, they don’t. They haven’t figured out that the women are smarter right now than the men. So, you know, it’s going to take them about another 150 years. But the Persians are great negotiators.
Mark got it wrong this week, so he’s on 0%
Leaking is not a logical fallacy
We talked about the frequent leaks coming out of the White House press corps –https://www.axios.com/white-house-sarah-sanders-john-mccain-kelly-sadler-8a4e33f7-c2bd-4cc6-aebd-57594d7ab4f4.html
The stories we really didn’t have time to talk about
- Jared and Ivanka partying at the new US Embassy in Jerusalem while Israeli soldiers killed 62 Palestinian protesters in Gaza and injured thousands more.
- Trump demanding an investigation into the investigation into his campaign
- Michael Cohen accepting millions of dollars from organisations looking for ‘insight’ into the Trump administration.
- Revelations that Don Jr attended another secret meeting before the election, this time with representatives of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE who were offering to help Trump win the election.
- Trump pestering the Postmaster General to double the postal rates charged to Amazon, presumably just to piss off Jeff Bezos.
- Trump pulling out of the summit with Kim Jong Un after North Korea called Mike Pence stupid.
- Trump picking daytime TV pseudoscience peddling quack Dr Oz to serve on the Presidential council for sports, fitness and nutrition.
- Yet another school shooting, which Republicans have blamed on abortions, Ritalin, schools having too many doors, and teachers not guessing the shooter would do this despite the fact he wore a trenchcoat to school sometimes. It’s not guns, though. Definitely not guns.
If you wanted to buy a T-shirt featuring this fallacy, you could click here. No pressure
