While working as an employee in a manufacturing concern, I used
to keep my lunch in the department fridge so that it would remain
fresh. One day during the lunchtime I saw my lunch as missing. I
assumed that the housekeeping staff must have taken it and I was
really upset about it. Later my colleague told me that he had taken
my lunch as he was feeling really hungry since he had fasted the
previous day. I could have used my critical thinking and realized that
the housekeeping staff requires prior approval before gaining access to
the department fridge.When I got promoted in the Finance department
of my company, I had to report to a new manager that had just
joined the company. I had heard rumors that she was really strict
and uncooperative. I was hesitant to work under her as I assumed
that she would restrict my growth in the firm. But after working
with her on my first project I realized that she was highly
professional, formal and reserved. I could have used my critical thinking
before judging someone based on false rumors. Later on, she became
one of the best managers under whom I have grown significantly in
my career. I get into arguments with customers at work almost every
day. I work as an auto mechanic so I get a lot of customers
who look up what could be wrong with their vehicle before they
bring it to the auto shop I work in. When they come in they
always think that they know what is wrong and what needs to be
fixed. I have the hardest time trying to convince those customers that
the internet has not actually looked at their car and can not actually
tell them what is wrong with their vehicle. But they are the customer
and if they want the wrong parts fixed or replaced, it is my job
to do what the customer wants.
Another argument I have a lot is with a coworker who has been
working on cars for over 30 years. The argument that we get into
is that I will be in the middle of doing something on a vehicle
and then he will come over and tell me to do what I am already
in the middle of doing. Then he will just start doing it himself
like I do not know what I am doing. He thinks that just because
he has been woking on cars a lot longer then me, that I do not
know what I am doing. Even though I have more ASE (Automotive
Standard Equipment) certifications then he has ever had. I can think
of several instances where I used fallacies to get someone to do
something. My job is to oversee the maintenance of my buildings
that have over 1.5 million square feet of space. We continually battle
what is important and what "is not' important and we can hold off
on completing. This is all based on staffing and on "the squeaky
wheel." Consistently I am forced with having to get my staff to do
things, that they don't want to do (for whatever reason). That is
the battle with Unions. Quite often I am tasked with telling them
to do things that "customers" have complained about and how we
need to get it done ASAP - all the while knowing that I'm the
one who wants it done and no one has really complained. This is
a constant that I must do to get my union subordinates to work
and accomplish tasks they feel are out of there realm. Usually they
complain, state they are going to file a grievance, but end up doing
it and not filing a grievance - I feel like I'm the boy who cried
wolf sometimes. But I need to get things done and sometimes telling
fallacies is in my best interest in getting things done. I can only
think of one story about where fallacy was used against me, but it
contains two different types of fallacies.
When I was working at a call center a few years ago I got
diagnosed with cancer. I was able to get the time off that I
needed for the treatments, but the recovery time was long, about 6
months. When I came back to work after I finished therapy I wasn't
able to come in to work as much as I wanted. after about 2-3
weeks my coach at the time was constantly chewing me out because
I wasn't able to come in to work every day, my coach knew why
I wasn't able to come in. He tried an inappropriate appeal to
authority.
The second part is on my side when he gave up on the harassment.
I thought the problems were over then, but about a week later he
came to me and pulled me aside and started to explained why he
was putting so much pressure on me. He said that my call-in's
were affecting his bonus. At that point, I had assumed that he
wouldn't understand what I was going through, and the next day I
quit the job and started looking for a new job to pay the bills.
I would say I'm not much of an argumentative person so thinking
of some arguments is tough. However my roommates and I have
gotten into some pretty stupid and simple disagreements. For example,
there was a huge debate over whether a hot dog is a sandwich
or not. There was a slight majority for the side that claimed it
was not a sandwich. There was no reasoning or evidence brought up
defending that side, just that "it's not a sandwich and that is just
how it is". Since there was a majority on that side, they convinced
an opposing debater to agree with them just because of the numbers
they had. I would say the person who flipped was biased in the
argument because he just didn't want to be a part of the "losing"
side. Another example would be a disagreement I had at work with
a coworker. The coworker and I were both working to resolve an
issue when I came up with a solution. My coworker disagreed and
said that my solution wouldn't work and when I tried to explain
why it would, she tried questioning my experience. She tried assuming
since she had worked there longer that she knew what was best.
She also transferred in from another store and did not know what
my experience truly was. In the end, my solution was right and
just because she had worked in the company for two months longer
(yeah that's all), she didn't know any better than I did. In both
situations, better communication could have helped us come to an
agreement rather than having split decisions on both matters. Through
my work experience as a server I have learned to make assumptions
about my customers wants or needs while they are in the restaurant
because more times than not they will fail to tell me what they
need beforehand. A few weeks ago a customer ordered a salad by
saying "I'll take a grilled chicken salad with greek dressing". On our
menu we have two salads similar to what she asked for, one being
a grilled chicken salad and the other a greek salad that chicken
would be added on to. By the way she ordered her salad I
assumed that she wanted the grilled chicken salad, however I turned
out being wrong. I should have confirmed exactly which salad she
was referring to in order to properly order her food.
I feel like theres many "little white lies" you're told as a child
that once your parents say it thats just how it is, no questions
asked. Like any kid my parents would tell me things like it is
illegal to have a car light on while you are driving or if you
swallow gum then it will stay in your stomach for seven years.
Really once I got older I could have done my research to see if
small things like these were true or not, but I choose to blindly
believe them. I actually still thought for the longest time that having
a light on in the car while driving was illegal. I work for a
truck dealership and specifically in the body shop. One of the
technicians is generally under the impression that his coworkers,
management team, and the Company our not looking out for his best
interests. Just a few months ago, he stormed into the office and
handed me a repair estimate that our estimator had written for him.
He didn’t agree with the repair time on the estimate and thought
it should be higher due to more damage being found on the vehicle
under very close inspection. The collision center that we work in is
a flat rate shop. Essentially, the more repair hours that are included
on the written estimate increases the pay for the technician, commissions
for the office staff, and drives revenue for the shop. He accused
the estimator of both being lackadaisical when he had initially inspected
the truck and also dishonest, insinuating that he was trying to cut
the customer some slack on the bill. He assumed these two things.
If he had simply asked the estimator questions regarding the estimate
he would’ve realized that this particular truck had never actually shown
up on site. The customer asked for an estimate by pictures only.
The technician also found out that the customer had agreed to pay
more for whatever we found and only was looking for an initially
ball-park figure. Some reasoning could’ve done the trick here.On another
occasion, I witnessed two of neighbors arguing loudly on the
neighborhood’s trash pick-up day. Apparently, there had been a history
of arguing between them which was the catalyst here. Neighbor one
had moved neighbor two’s bin from street the morning of trash day
and was wheeling it up the owner’s driveway. Just as he was nearly
finished, neighbor two walked out of the front door and briefly
thanked him, grabbing the can. After peaking inside, he noticed the
large cardboard box that had been in the can was still there, and
the garbage truck had already passed. He blamed neighbor one of
moving his can off of the street just as the garbage truck passed
in order to purposely return a full can. It took my security camera
to show that the truck did in fact attempt to raise the can and
empty the contents; however, given the light weight of the box inside
the can and the way it was lodged in, wouldn’t allow the box to
come out. Again, reasoning, critical thinking, and some questions could’ve
lead to a much more peaceful exchange. One example in which
someone tried to use bias to persuade me is when deciding to go
to online school many people were not supportive. The people who
I told about my decision wanted me to go to a big university
from my state, just like them. Many older people already had the
bias that physically going to college is the only way to get a
degree. They do not understand that times have changed, and many
people are getting online degrees opposed to going to big universities.
I think that if the bias was removed and people who were opposed
to online school investigated it and the benefits, they would have
saw why it was a good choice for me. Another example of in
which someone tried to use bias to persuade when I decided to get
a Chevy. A lot of people from my hometown work at Ford.
Everyone around me drives Ford cars and encourages people to drive
what they make. I found my Chevy for a reasonable price and
really fell in love with the car. If bias was removed from this
situation, I think that people would have been more open minded to
other options, besides Fords. They would have understood that I picked
my car because I liked it and not because of who made it. When
I decided to get married, several people within my family advise not
to do it because we were too young to make the right decisions
and that we were going to regret it because we were too young.
At the time my wife was 18, and I was 20 years old, this was
an argument made based on assumptions only because of our age.
Thank God 20 years later, we are blessed happy parents of 4 kids
if the argument would have been made based on facts and not only
feelings or emotions they would of use critical thinking. Another
example is when I bought my car out of the auction friends told
me not to do it because I was going to have a lot of mechanical
problems. However, I did some research before doing it, and it helped
because I was able to get a car for over seven years with no
significant issues argument was made using bias my friends have bought
their cars on dealerships if any have had any previous experience
with auction cars it argument would have been more impactful. While
at work on my current job, My absolute favorite think to drink is
a cold Coca Cola. I always bring one in everyday and put it in
the freezer. Everyone that knows me knows this. On this particular
day, my COLD Coca Cola was missing but there was a hot one
there to replace it I guess. When I noticed it, my co-worker that
was there with me assumed I was going to be highly upset. I
was for a second because, who would do this, that was my thought.
I assumed it had to be someone on the night cleanup crew because
I again assumed it would never be the people that knew it was
mine. Well low and behold it was the co-worker standing next to
me. Using my critical thinking skills reasoning skills, this argument
could have been adjusted because the night clean-up crew does not
have access to where the refrigerators are.I utilize social media
occasionally. I started noticing people with beautiful skin a lot. I then
started following them trying to sneak and find out more about their
skin regiments. I happen to make a comment in front of my
daughter about it. My daughter is 18 and well versed on social
media of course. She says "Mom, those are filters that people are
using to add a pop to their looks", I was looking with mouth
wide open in disbelief. That is when I realized that fallacy had
taken over me. They had me believing it was real. If I had did
my research a bit more with reason and critical thinking skills, I
would have noticed that it was a trend that was going on and I
was clearly not up on whats new in the world. When I worked
as a supervisor in customer service, Susan a customer service agent
came to me and ask if she might change work space. Susan
expressed that Kim the new worker next to her made her uncomfortable.
I asked, what has she done or said that made her uncomfortable?
While she didn't have any exchanges with Kim. Susan had overheard
other employees saying Kim was a troublemaker. Susan didn’t want to
deal with any part of that. Susan was paying more attention to
rumors. Making assumptions created on what she overheard from her
other co-workers. I decided not to approve Susan’s request to move.
I then ask her to think back to when she was a new employee.
How would she feel if that new employee had been herself? By
the end of the week, they were in the break room having lunch
together. Things changed when she took the time to form her own
opinion, instead of listening to the assumptions of others.Another example
is a lot of people’s social media page will lead you to believe
that they are fabulous successfully and happy with their life. The sad
reality is they are broke and depressed. You learn fast that people
do not always tell the whole truth when it comes to their social
media post. How many times has someone started talking to someone
on social media based on the picture they see on their profile?
Only to face reality when you meet face to face. Then you get
glimpse of reality when the real story comes out. I know you have
heard of these scandals were people we would never think the of
their character. Even when we know nothing more about them except
what they portray in the social media world. What I have learned
over the years is that you cannot always take things at face value.
If it’s too good to be true, do your research, chances are it’s an
illusion. zz My younger sister and I got into an argument and her
point of view came from what she experienced with her friend she
had from high school. She is going to school for PT and I am
going for business. There would be times where she would be difficult
to be around because she was so stressed about her classes. I told
her if she broke it down and took it in strides it would build
up so bad. She brought in the fact that her previous class mate
was so stressed that she dropped out and that that same scenario
was going to happen with her. I believe she was arguing out of
a biased opinion because she did not think of the possible reasons
as to why maybe her friend couldn't keep up with the work load.
I am not a very political person and I choose to be that way.
I don't pay attention enough either to where I feel like I could
make a credible argument. My fiance has always been passionate about
who he stands by and I do not entirely know if it's because of
his father or he really stands behind what he knows. Some things
in the media and what politicians speak on though do spark my
attention because of what they deal with. When I try to make an
argument or an opinion about the subject, he has very biased opinions
because if it against the party he is for, it is already wrong. He
also brings up the fact that I am open about not wanting to pay
attention to the politics so I may not know the whole picture. By
this time I just listen to what he says, but know that I have
more logical reasoning behind my side of the argument than just
being strong willed about a political side. On example of an argument
I can think of is one that I had with my kids several times. I
wanted to convince them to well in school and to care about their
grades. I emphasized that they needed to, at the very least, graduate
high school with strong grades. I would point out that if they
didn’t, they would have to work extremely hard to make a living
and would probably struggle financially for the most of it. I would
even use my husband as an example because he didn’t finish school,
and he does mostly hard manual labor for a poor wage. I think
I used bias because of his situation and the fallacy that you can’t
succeed without good grades.My next example also involves one of
my daughters. The dating scene is so different now and things that
were considered inappropriate when I was dating are now the norm
apparently. She had just started dating a guy when she decided to
go on vacation with him. I immediately starting making him look
like a bald person that she couldn’t trust when I knew nothing
about him. That was not fair to him or her because I was so
biased in my opinion, not only because of the way I grew up,
but also because I just wanted to protect her. I definitely should
have been more open and to give him a chance to prove himself.
Either way, she still went but it wasn’t without a good fight from
me. I think that with current news outlets and social media, we
come across biased information on a daily basis. News outlets sometimes
stretch the truth in order to convince their viewers to believe what
they want them to believe. It can be hard to tell what statements
are factual and which are fallacy. With the elections closing in many
people often share their political opinions in less than factual ways,
spreading bias and assumption. Most people don't know everything about
every single candidate and this leads to lots of assumption about
what candidates believe. Social media further fuels these issues with
political arguments online. Articles that are shared online aren't always
accurate which just spreads false and biased information to get the
audience to believe something that isn't true. Critical thinking plays a
huge role in these issues, as we learn what news sources are
accurate and which aren't we can make the decision not to read
those articles or engage in arguments and the spreading of false
information both online and in person. When critical thinking is used,
it becomes easier to see what information is biased and fallacy and
what information is accurate. I work at an Adult Education School
and therefore we have many students that are working towards earning
their high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate. Most
of the front office have been working at the Adult School for quiet
sometime, and have seen many students fail to achieve their goal of
earning their high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate.
Therefore, I have witnessed the office staff on many occasions being
rude and disrespectful towards returning students based on their past
experience with the students. The office staff is assuming the returning
students will once again fail to achieve their goals as well as being
bias towards the group of Adult Education students. Everyone has
reasons as to why they have not finished their goal of earning their
high school diploma or high school equivalency. Life happens and as
an Adult Educator it is our job to help encourage each student even
if it is the students 100th time trying to complete said goals. As
an Adult Educator we have to remain open-minded and understand
their are valid reasons an adult student may start and stop continuing
their education. Life happens and shame on the office staff for their
assumptions and being bias towards our Adult Educations Students.Before
working for the Adult Education School, I worked in the fitness
industry as an assistant manager; I found missing money from the
cash register, a consistent $20 each month. I brought it to my
managers attention and she tried to cover it up. I was told by an
employee they had seen her take money from the register before,
therefore, I had to bring the matter to HR's attention. My manager
than began to find ways to personally attack me by having the IT
department track my cell phone, (which they could not because I did
not connect to the company's WIFI) she had all my emails read
and she called each employee in one by one and stood over their
shoulders while she "helped" them write statements against me. This
was a case of an ad hominem fallacy as she attacked my character
by having employees falsely write statements about me (which they
did out of fear of losing their jobs and told me so themselves)
and never actually speaking to me on the matter nor getting to the
truth of the matter. My first example is my co worker and I got
into an argument a few days ago about him not showing up for
duty. However he complains to me when I be a tab bit late for
duty. The argument could have work out if I could have confronted
him about it when no one was around, but I felt some type of
way when he does it in front of people. I could have been the
bigger person in this situation. Another example would be my cousin
and I got into off he say and she say things, someone went back
and told something I said but change the story up . However ,
my cousin didn't come to me about the situation but instead she
block me off face book. When she could have came to be so we
can talk things out, unfortunately this cousin and I don't communicate
at all due to someone not telling the truth in what I said . I
even tried to be the bigger person to apologize but somethings you
just got to keep at a distance especially family. My first example
happened around Christmas time a year ago. My daughter's dad was
talking with his son who at the time was only two. His son was
saying how he couldn't wait for Santa to bring him a fie truck.
My daughter's dad made the statement to him that he buys all of
his Christmas gifts. I over heard the conversation from the other
room and quickly ran to tell him not to say things like to him.
I was upset because I felt that as a toddler you should believe in
Santa. I told him that he was ruining his son's imagination and
growing him up too fast by telling him things like that. His defense
was he work hard to buy all of the gifts his children ask for
and they should know whose actually buying their gifts. The idea
that a jolly old man delivers gifts around the whole world in one
night is a bit of a fallacy, but one that keeps children in the
holiday spirit in my opinion. I don't think its wrong to allow them
to believe in Santa Claus for as long as they want.Another example
would be a bias disagreement that I had with a friend of mine.
We were discussing same sex/ gay relationships and how gay parents
are able to adopt. Though I have nothing against gay relationships (
I don't mean to offend anyone with this statement) I was against
gay couples being able to adapt a child. I felt as though a child
being raised in a same sex home would only confuse the child and
that would possibly increase the chances of the child being gay later
in life. My friend who is also heterosexual disagreed with me
completely. She had done her research and explained to me that
statistics suggest there isn't a major difference in the gender identity
development in children. She even told me that gay couples are more
likely to successfully adopt than some heterosexual couples. After listening
to some of my friend's points and doing some research of my own,
it did help me to be more open minded to the thought of children
being adopted into a same-sex home. Before then, I was completely
bias to the idea and was not interested in hearing in any studies
or anything else that may suggest that it was perfectly normal. I
remember a discussion I had with a coworker regarding our production
and the system we used. In this discussion, my coworker assumed
that because his production was high he was recording his information
correctly. Using that information, he tried to convince those around
him that he was the top producer within the team. What he did
not realize was that he had not been entering the time it took to
complete each activity. This gave him an incorrect result. Once corrected,
it showed that he was not a top producer but in danger of not
meeting production requirements. If my coworker had used proper critical
thinking skills, he could have better analyzed the information to find
missing information. I also believe that if he had not been biased
towards himself, he could have been more objective to the
process.Another situation was when my father attempted to convince me
to buy a car solely based on the brand. My father was bias
towards that specific brand blinding him to the facts. He attempted
to persuade me to purchase a car, even though the deal was not
beneficial. His only reasoning behind it was that it was the best
brand. If critical thinking had been used in this situation, he could
have seen the factual evidence to make a logical decision. Is it a
good brand or is the car worth the deal? Those are questions that
could have been taken into consideration; ultimately allowing for a
decision not based on emotion and bias. My first example is one
that happened at the workplace. The principal sent out to all staff
about getting to work on time. Some people that I work with got
defensive about the email. A few people that had not been getting
to work on time felt like the email wasn’t about them; because
they aren’t as late as some other people. And they also felt like
if it was truly meant for them, the email would have only went
to them instead of everyone. They used a bias called diffusion of
responsibility. In order to feel less accountable to change what they
were doing even though they probably knew the email was about
them. This argument could have been adjusted if my coworkers reflected
on themselves. If they did this, they would have realized it was
about them and think about what they could do to fix it and get
back on the right track.One time my dad and I were talking about
what we thought was the best brand of phone. My dad favours
Android phones and I favor Apple phones. To argue my point, I
said Apple has better phones because there is no one who makes
better phones. And my dad said the Android has better phones
because there is no one who makes better phones. Neither of us
had evidence or valid points to support which brand we thought
makes a better phone. Our argument went nowhere. Instead, we both
used the fallacy called begging the question by restating our claim
in another way to support our claim. This only restates what has
already been said and doesn't add anything to support the argument.
These arguments could have been adjusted by finding and using valid
points and evidence; instead of just voicing our opinions, which means
nothing without having something to back it up. I can think of two
instances with two different friends of mine, of which one involved
assumption and the other situation was based on bias. The first
example is that I have a friend that automatically assumes when
someone relocates to a different state, that they’re running from some
problem and need to relocate to establish a new identity. This was
a topic that we had an in-depth conversation about because I’m from
Michigan and relocated to Texas and was slightly offended. I had to
explain to him that the reason I had relocated was due to my
work and to venture out in a new environment. I then went on
to explain the many different reasons as to why people relocate and
that he shouldn’t automatically assume that it’s due to something shady.
Had he used reasoning and did some research beforehand, he would
have seen for himself.
The second instance would be when a friend and myself were
discussing open relationships and if they qualified as true relationships
or not. I, myself, personally feel strongly that open relationships aren’t
considered as real and that it was just a gateway to date other
people. He obviously had a different opinion on the topic because he
was in fact in an open relationship at the time. Rather than to
take the time t hear him out, I had allowed my bias to overpower
my judgement. Had I use critical thinking in that argument, I could
have at lease heard his point view objectively and then done some
research instead of outright dismissing him without any facts to support
my stance. When I was growing up my parents always told me
that it was illegal to turn on the car light while driving. Once, I
wanted to turn the light on and they responded with that reasoning.
I never questioned it or asked for a reason why. It isn't actually
illegal to have the inside car light on while driving. They just didn't
want me to turn the light on. The fallacy in this is that the
idea that having the car light on while driving had no reason to
back it up. I should have asked why it was illegal and maybe
then I could have deduced from their answer that it was untrue.
I ordered a salad at a drive through window and I didn't specify
what dressing I wanted. I assumed that they would give me ranch.
I thought this was the automatic dressing that came with salads. I
got home and unpacked my salad to realize there was no dressing
at all. There was no ranch. I should not have assumed that they
would put ranch in the bag. I should have realized I can not
assume someone would understand what I want if I don;t say so.
If I had only told them I wanted ranch and thought more clearly
then I would have had a tastier salad. I should also not have had
the bias that ranch was the automatic dressing that came with salads.
It doesn't say that in writing anywhere. I had no proof. It was
only the fact that I preferred ranch that led to my bias. Growing
up in a rural, farming community, I had not seen many African
American individuals before. However, when I entered middle school
and started traveling for sports, I met many new people, including
African American girls that were my age. In track I met a girl
who was an amazing athlete. She ran the 100 meter dash and 200
meter dash, and was extremely fast. One day I asked her where
her extra bone was that made her so fast, and she looked at me
with confusion and anger. My grandparents had told me that “black
people have an extra bone in their leg that makes them faster than
white people” and I completely believed it. Little did I know, this
was a fallacy of division. I had just offended her because I assumed
something completely untrue about her race. I had grown up in a
place that was not racist, but did not have many people of color
in it, therefore there were many false truths about black people that
were completely incorrect. I now know that the color of your skin
does not change the amount of bones in the body. Knowing what
I do now about critical thinking, I would have approached this in
a completely different way. I would have first asked questions about
her, and gotten to know her better and after that, I should have
asked her if this statement was true, trying to find more reason
before I automatically assumed that this false rumor was real. I went
to school at a time where school shootings were just beginning.
Therefore, lockdowns and lockouts were practiced very frequently in
school. At home, Kids learned that the person who executed the
Columbine shooting had a mental handicap, which was assumed to be
a form of Autism. My friend came to school one day very concerned,
and told our friend group that she had something to tell us. She
told us that Autistic people were dangerous because the person who
shot students at the school in Denver was Autistic. This was a
fallacy of composition. Being very young at the time, nobody questioned
what she had to say. Not to mention, we had an Autistic boy in
our grade, and all started staying as far away as possible from him.
That day I went home and told my mom the new fact I learned
at school. She quickly told me that people with mental illnesses and
handicaps had no control over their brains, and just because they
were different than me didn’t mean they were dangerous. We all
learned a very valuable lesson, just because one person does something
bad, doesn’t mean that another person like them will do the same
things. This lesson sticks with me to this day. Now, as a better
critical thinker I am able to use reason when assessing people. I
know that each person is different, and should not be judged by
their appearance or certain things about them like a mental disability.
I often witness individuals who rely on bias, fallacies and assumptions
to persuade others. My employer requires me to attend County
Commission meetings every month. The meetings are structured to allow
public comment before Commissioners vote on any actions. At a recent
meeting, an ordinance to impose paid time off (PTO) to all individuals
who worked at least 30 hours was being considered. Over 50 people
signed up to persuade the commissioners to vote on the ordinance in
their favor. Those in support of the ordinance shared stories of having
to go to work to provide for their family even though they were
sick. Others shared stories of losing their job because they were sick
and could not go to work, so their employer fired them. Several
individuals expressed they deserved PTO just like everyone else. Those
individuals that did not support the ordinance, expressed the detriment
to small businesses. Others conveyed the government did not considered
the costs to implement such an action. The ordinance was approved
however, several amendments had to be considered to address
implementation and establish deliverables that will need to be evaluated
annually. Both arguments failed to provide factual evidence. Those in
favor grouped together to persuade the commissioners by using the
fallacy of popular appeal and appeal to pity. Those that did not
support used the fallacy of scare tactics and appeal to pity. Ultimately
the commission sided with the majority of their constituents. This
created arguments between the commissioners since several of them had
large numbers of small businesses in their districts while others had
fewer small business but had large numbers of working class. By
analyzing and evaluating evidence to support the arguments, each side
could have considered each perspective and worked collaboratively to
reach a conclusion that addressed each side. The fallacy that I see
the most is the equivocation. I have watched my parents argue over
something and I am sitting there and saying in my head, “They are
talking about two different things!” She thinks he meant one thing,
but he meant another. And yes, I have been guilty of it myself.
We have tempers in our family. I have been working a long time
on not jumping to the wrong conclusion. To stop and ask questions
to make sure that what I think I heard is what they are saying,
but I am not always successful, especially in my family life. I have
more success with it in my professional life.I didn’t realize I was
doing it at the time, but the first time that I remember using a
fallacy was when I was in the 5th grade. And I used the fallacy
of Popular Appeal. I was raised in a strict religious household. Until
I was in the 5th grade, I was not allowed to wear pants. My
parents were raised to believe that it was a sin for women to
wear pants, and they still firmly believed that it was. I had spoken
to my parents about it several different times, but I wasn’t getting
anywhere with them, so I started thinking outside the box. My father
was and still is a huge sports fan. As a matter of fact, we had
a TV in our house for one reason and one reason only, so he
could watch sports. So, I decided that I would play basketball (even
though I did/do not have an athletic bone in my body) with the
plan that I would be able to convince him that I would have to
wear pants (not shorts) in order to be able to play. And it worked.
Yes, I conned my father when I was in the 5th grade, but I
have been wearing pants ever since, and I am not dying and going
to hell as a result. My mother also now wears pants. As young
as I was back then, I honestly don’t know how I could have used
reason and critical thinking. I was a child, and my thoughts and
opinions didn’t matter. There are things now that come up that they
believe is a “sin” and we can have logical discussions about it, but
not back then. For example I work in a doctors office and we
see all types of patients. Mostly we see pediatric patients and with
that we give a lot of vaccines but we do have parents who choose
not to vaccinate their children/child because they believe or read that
it causes their child to develop these diseases. A lot of our parents
use google and they seek false information from word of mouth into
making their decisions. Even when we give them correct information,
facts and recent outbreaks on certain diseases and let them know that
this will help and benefit their kids/kid in the future some still
choose not to vaccinate. I also know that some religions do not
believe in vaccinating their children as well. I also instruct that some
schools or even daycare won't accept children without up-to-date vaccine
record. Even when I disagree with the decision that some of the
parents choose to make I still respect their decisions but still give
them great feedback and maybe they may change their minds in the
future.Second example is when a co-worker disagreed with me on what
color tube a lab was supposed to be drawn in. PSA (prostate test)
is supposed to be drawn in a gold tube but a co-worker stated
that she always drawn them in a red tube and this is the first
time the lab had rejected the test because it was in the wrong
tube. Asked the co-worker why was it drawn in that colored tube
and my co-worker stated that it said red or gold so it was always
drawn in red. Instructed to my co-worker that it has always been
gold per the lab request. We got into a slight argument because we
both believed that we were right until we actually called the lab
and they stated that the test should be drawn in a gold which
they prefer. Searching the lab site to verify the tube color was not
enough for my co-worker we needed verbal confirmation.With everything
I've learned thus far about critical thinking and the reasoning behind
the ways we think as human beings. My approach will be totally
different and I won't be bias to other people decisions. There was
a post on social media that was posted by a young girl requesting
help so she could feed her family, it stated she was single and
had two young children. Many people posted negative comments on
the post accusing this young girl of being untruthful and accusing
her of just wanting money for drugs they stated "the majority of
people asking for handouts are drug addicts". If certain people would
have carefully read the post before jumping to conclusions they would
have realized she never asked for money. She was asking for food
donations or to please order food to the hotel she was staying in.
This was a perfect example of how it took just that one negative
untrue comment for others to blindly follow without any evidence of
the accusations. Stories that are shared on social media a lot of the
time are untrue and cause fear which turns into hate. I have seen
many people (including myself a few times) who rely on bias, fallacy,
and assumptions when speaking about a topic. I have noticed that it's
easy to get information from the people that you surround yourself
with or false social media news.One example that comes to the top
of my mind involved a co-worker. Steve was having a conversation
with me about interracial relationships. He mentioned that interracial
relationships were disgusting and white men should not be with someone
of color because it was unnatural (he quoted the bible as a reference).
It was quite an awkward situation for me to be in because my
wife is Pakistani and Italian. I let him know that I was in an
interracial relationship and he should try to challenge his way of
thinking instead of believing what he's believed his whole life.While
my first example was fueled by ignorance and hate, my second
example was fueled by love and compassion. My wife is invested in
equality and loves every living thing and there have been a few
times where she would hear of an injustice and it would emotionally
impact her for weeks. One particular time that comes to mind is
when DFW airport (along with other airports across the U,S,) were
holding families and not letting them leave the airport. When my
wife heard about this, she immediately broke down in tears and
rallied up people to protest. Without knowing much information, she
told her friends that the families, who were here legally, may be
deported so they had to act fast. The situation itself was awful,
however, my wife didn't really know what was going on. She jumped
to the worst case scenario so that she could get the support she
needed.
