Just a quick and highly off-topic post. The other day I got myself involved in a Twitter discussion which led into a challenge to identify logcial or argumentation fallacies based on characters from the Wizard of Oz. In my lunchbreak, I came up with a few, and as Greg Laden asked me to put them down somewhere, here they are.
I should state from the outset that I am neither logician nor philosopher, so these are probably as airtight as a Glad-Wrap submarine with holes big enough for an entire convoy of B-doubles to drive through.
Note: I try to keep my own politics out of my Blogging as much as possible. This post breaks that rule rather hard. Apologies in advance.
Dorothy
Thoughtlessly dropping a house on someone due to your argument spiraling out of control.
Toto
Yapping repetitively around the heels, but lacking a diverse or complex enough repertoire to actually make a strong and convincing argument.
Scarecrow
The classic Strawman. Often a sign of being in need of brains.
Tin Man
An unassailable and robust argument that has an entirely hollow premise.
Cowardly Lion
An argument that is painfully narrow in its scope, due to the proponent’s often well-hidden terror of the full implications.
Wicked Witch of the West
A scary, authoritative ivory-tower argument that dissolved when someone gives them a good bucketing.
The Wizard
Pretending personal abstraction to an issue to distract from the proponent’s own privilege defended in the argument.
Thus endeth my diversion. Please carry on.
Excellent. Looking forward to the Yellow Brick Road fallacy and the Munchkin Maneuver.
I fully admit to intending to avoid Munchkins. Similarly, my “Songs Of The South” Fallacy Megamix is currently on hold.