Writing Assignment #2

Doing an assignment on social organizations was useful because it helped clarify the use of fallacies, reasoning, concealed claims, and use of emotional appeal. While doing this assignment we learned the importance of fallacies and how to not use them when it was easy to by pass the things we were saying. The main thing from this assignment was how to use the things we learned in the book such as reasoning from hypotheses in real life situations. While learning these types of things it is easy to brush it off and think nothing of it, but when focusing on these certain aspects of a social thing then we realize that we do use these things in everyday life. It was also interesting to learn about concealed claims and then use it in the assignment. It was interesting to realize how many social organizations use concealed claims to get their point across without saying it directly. 

Chapter 8

General Claims
General claims can easily be considered as valid, but most of the times they are not. In order to make a general claim good we have to know when to use words such as "all" and "some." All is implying that it is everything single one or thing, with no exceptions. Some implies that it is at least one, but not all. The book uses good examples to say "all," by saying all or every. In order for "all" to be valid it needs to be clear that what is being said implies that every single one is included. An example would be that all toilets flush. This is stating that toilets flush, no exceptions. An example of "some" would be that girl has long hair. This is saying that at least one girl has long hair, but not every girl has long hair.
Contradictory Claims
It is easy to assume that the contradiction of a claim is the opposite, but in same cases that makes the contradictory claim false.  An example of this would be, "all kittens meow" and "all kittens don't meow." This is false and the correct contradictory claim is "some kittens don't meow." To figure out the contradictory of a claim takes common sense. You have to think about what would make more sense than just writing the exact opposite which may make no sense at all.

Mistaking the Person for the Argument

Too often people don't believe an argument because of who said it or who the argument was about. "To refute an argument is to show is it bad. Just as we don't reject a claim because of who said it, we don't refute an argument because of who said it" (Epstein 98).

Jon: I was watching the news last night and it Lindsey Lohan said that drinking and driving is bad.
Rachel: Are you kidding? She is the one who has gotten multiple DUI's.

This is an example of mistaking the person for the argument. While the main argument is that drinking and driving is bad, Rachel only commented on the fact that Lindsey Lohan was the one who said it when she has done that many times. It is important to hear the argument. If a police officer had said that drinking and driving was bad then Rachel may have actually taken in the information as useful because a police officer is more trusting that Lindsey Lohan.

Advertising and the Internet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lW-Yr4RnJw

After watching this video you have to wonder whether is possible or not. There are many weight loss products and the advertisements for them are what make them successful. It is important for a weight loss company to have a convincing advertisement else nobody would buy their product. This product took a new approach that is easily attracted by our younger generation. Since the internet is such a huge part of everyday life and youtube.com has become an extremely popular website this advertisement will get attention. The video seems as if it is a normal person who video blogs describing her experience with this product, but in reality it is an ad created by the company. This video can be very believable because it is easy to believe that this girl actually used the product and had amazing results. Since she seems like a normal person it is easy to want to believe her. A person should know not to believe this video because as everybody knows it takes proper eating and an active lifestyle to lose weight and stay thin not some pill. This is personal knowledge that makes this video hard to believe. If my best friend came to me and personally told me she lost 30 pounds from this product then I would have to decide if I believe her since she is a reliable source, but since I have don't know who the girl in the video is and she could just be a paid actor then I find this advertisement hard to believe.