It has been a very exasperating when people use a fallacy in sending messages. What am I talking about? Ever ended a very heart warming, ego bumping story like this?: and that child was Einstein. Or something along the lines of?: He went on to found Microsoft. With Snopes around it is very hard to escape with your story with fallacies like that. What does it matter? Well let me enlighten you.
Let's talk about messages. Using an appeal to authority is a logical fallacy by itself. Child Einstein is a great example of it. And by the way it is a fake story which Einstein's name was dragged along it to lend it credibility. See, it only hurts the message if you falsely attribute it to someone else. Why would you attribute it to someone else in the first place anyway?
Right you are Rufus played by Chris Rock in the movie Dogma! So you have this message. You enhance it with improper attribution. You say it's a great idea so what's wrong with the message. Well attributing it to create an appeal to authority makes it a whole new message. You're saying that if a famous smart person like Einstein or a great authority figure like the Prime Minister endorses this message, then they must be right. Now that we have proven that they did in fact not do it, it brings the whole idea into question. Get it? It's better for an idea to stand on its own rather than somebody propping it up with fiction. Because if it is a good idea, it would stand on its own merits. Not that you might have the wrong idea in the first place, I say clean it up to the basics.
So for every Einstein on god post, or Cosby is sick of taxes post, and the Prime Minister of Australia on Islamists post: C'MON! I know Jesus' parables might be a tough act to follow but at least he used fictional characters so that people get to the core of the idea he's trying to give.
Let's talk about messages. Using an appeal to authority is a logical fallacy by itself. Child Einstein is a great example of it. And by the way it is a fake story which Einstein's name was dragged along it to lend it credibility. See, it only hurts the message if you falsely attribute it to someone else. Why would you attribute it to someone else in the first place anyway?
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| It's better to have ideas. |
So for every Einstein on god post, or Cosby is sick of taxes post, and the Prime Minister of Australia on Islamists post: C'MON! I know Jesus' parables might be a tough act to follow but at least he used fictional characters so that people get to the core of the idea he's trying to give.
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