Logic & Critical Thinking
February 09, 2012
January 16, 2012
The Simpsons, "The Liberal Straw Man Song"
On a recent episode of The Simpsons the show took issue with how Fox News characterizes liberals.
If you're not familiar with the straw man fallacy see here. The basic idea of a straw man fallacy is that a position is (mis)characterized so at to make it look absurd or easily refutable, criticize this distorted mischaracterization showing its flaws, then suppose to have shown that the actual position has been defeated. It's attacking a "straw man" of the position rather than the strongest case for the rival view. In "Politically Inept with Homer Simpson," Homer gets a job as a pundit on a conservative infotainment network. The network execs readily acknowledge that they present a straw man of the liberal position by suggesting it's based on envy of the rich and turning kids into homosexuals. Of course, there are reasonable, principled arguments for the liberal positions on taxation and tolerance of homosexuality or even same-sex marriage that have nothing to do with envy or making kids gay.
July 26, 2011
Stephen Colbert on Gut Reporting and Accuracy about Norway Attacks
June 28, 2011
Jon Stewart Deconconstructs Fox News
On last night's episode of The Daily Show Jon Stewart deconstructs (in the technical sense of the term) Fox News' pretention to journalistic impartiality and balance to expose the channel's conservative bias.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Oh, for Fox Sake | ||||
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Fox News is a conservative political correctness machine.
June 21, 2011
Jon Stewart on Jon Stewart on Fox News
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Fox News Channel - Fair & Balanced | ||||
| www.thedailyshow.com | ||||
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Fox News even selectively edits their interviews about media bias and selective editing as you can see from the unedited version. However, it looks like Stewart's claim that Fox News viewers is dubious. It's true in my personal experience with Fox viewers though. Regardless, Stewart does a good job of dismantling the dubious pretention to journalistic objectivity of Fox's "fair and balanced" slogan. They aren't fair or balanced. They tend to set up and attack a straw man of liberalism. And, their alleged balance is no more than presenting a particular slant on the news that fits the conservative worldview and that they feel is missing from mainstream media, as Wallace admits. It's more about appealing to a particular demographic than it is about presenting information for citizens to examine and think about.
May 19, 2011
Identity Politics: From the Founders to Malcolm X and Obama
It's been an interesting couple of weeks in identity politics. David Barton and Prof. Richard Beeman were each on The Daily Show discussing religion, the Founders, and the Constitution. Some basic Dead White Male stuff regarding what the Founders intended regarding the sepeartion of church and state. Cornell West made some, er, suprising, criticisms of Obama. And, a Black Studies Professor and a Harlem activist debate black history and black consciousness on Democracy Now. Check out some highlights below the fold.
Continue reading "Identity Politics: From the Founders to Malcolm X and Obama" »
May 19, 2011 6:39:59 PM
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Academia,
Activism,
Anti-Intellectualism,
Bio-Power and the State Apparatus,
Christocrats,
Class Warfare,
Conservative Bias,
Education,
History,
Identity Politics,
Indoctrination,
Legal Studies,
Logic & Critical Thinking,
Media & Propaganda,
Political & Religious Correctness,
Politically Incorrect Guide to the Right-Wing,
Politics & Political Philosophy,
Religion,
Republicans,
Teach the Debate in Sunday School,
Television,
The Culture Industry
Colbert Tries to Make Sense of Newt Gingrich's Claims
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Breaking Newt | ||||
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Not even Panderton 8000 can find away to reconcile Gingrich's contradictory claims. I'm sure some portion of the GOP base will find a way to so, though.
May 17, 2011
Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly Debate Common at the White House
Here's John Stewart taking Fox News to task for selective moral outrage regarding Common's White House performance.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Common Performs at the White House | ||||
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O'Reilly invited Stewart on his show to debate his criticism of Fox and what the fact that Common was invited to the WH implies about the Administration.
To me it's pretty clear Fox News will look for and twist anything they can in order to make the Administration look bad. This is just another "paling around with terrorists" type smear.What's Patriotism?
That release included the comment from Martin, “I also thought today brought out a wonderful display of patriotism among the students conducting the counter-protest.”
The online arts blog, allography.com responded by selling “Civil Discourse Kits” of water balloons and bottles on eBay. The online posting had the added message, “If you want to let Mr. Martin know how you feel about him and thank him for redefining what is meant by patriotism and civil discourse, we urge you to call him …”
There also was a petition started at Change.org criticizing Martin and LSU’s media relations staff, arguing in part, “LSU’s Chancellor did nothing to denounce the violent mob — even praising the ‘patriotism’ of the ‘counter-protest.’”
However, Martin clarified in his updated statement, “I do not condone the behavior of that portion of the crowd who … resorted to verbal threats and physical actions against the student while and after he tried to read his statement.”
Martin also stated, “Let me make these points clear: I do not condone the burning of the flag, but I defend the right for someone to express their freedom of speech by doing so. I applaud the many who responded with great passion to speak up for what their flag represents, and that was the purpose of the inspiring patriotic counter-protest that was organized …”
The organized counter-protest that continued after Haas’ departure included the pledge of allegiance and the singing of the national anthem.
I'm pretty sure that if you threaten a guy's life and pelt him with water bottles and trash because you don't like the way he's exercising his First Amendment rights, then you are not patriotic. Even if you sing the national anthem and say the pledge of allegiance afterwards.
April 26, 2011
Critical Thinking about "Sicko"
Some people regard Michael Moore's documentaries as insightful and truth-telling commentaries on matters of political significance (gun control, the war on terrorism, corporate greed, capitalism) while others regard his "documentaries" as liberal propaganda. Because his films are controversial they make excellent subject matter for critical thinking exercises. You can watch "Sicko," Moore's film on health care, on YouTube.com.
To use the film as subject matter for a critical thinking exercise write a review of the film that evaluates the viewpoint or argument presented in it and critically evaluate it for errors of fact, fallacy or logical contradiction. Make sure to accurately characterize the position presented in the film otherwise you may open up your own evaluation of the film to errors of fact, fallacy or contradiction. You might begin researching the film's claims by considering some of the movie's controversy in the media. You can find video clips of Moore on CNN debating the merits of the film, more evidence to support the film's claims on Moore's website, and John Stossel also did a segment on the film.
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