Ethan:My own fallacy detector...

Fallacy - Snob Appeal

Fallacy -Transfer

My kids are reading a book called The Fallacy Detective where they learn about common errors in logic. Ethan has become very good at recognizing bad reasoning. I saw him skimming through one of our magazines yesterday and asked him what he was doing. "Looking for fallacies, Mom." Then he proceeded to show me ads he had bookmarked and explain to me their faulty arguments.

Today, on a drive to the library, he pointed to different signs advertising restaurants and asked if even the names of businesses could be fallacies. (I supposed so but I had better read the book to be sure.) Ethan then began to describe commercials he had seen on TV and why they were designed to work on the viewers poor reasoning skills. One example he told me is the commercial where a mom in a car has to suddenly slam on her brakes. The camera zooms in on a baby in the backseat and says something like "Aren't you glad you have such and such brakes." Ethan says that commercial falls under the propaganda label as an appeal to fear. It does nothing to educated the viewer as to the real quality or description of the product.

Ethan wondered why fallacies in advertising work so well on people and I got to quote the Professor in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. "Logic! Why don't they teach logic at these schools." Advertisers present their products wrapped up in fallacies because it works.

Then Ethan proceeded to use what I am sure must be some sort of fallacy on me..."Mom, I need to watch more TV because it will help me practice my skills at identifying fallacies."

Ethan, I'm not buying it! I think that's a "Barking Up the Wrong Tree" fallacy.