Example research essay topic: One Can Find Newspapers And Magazines - 1,274 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

There is nothing perfect in our world. If we look meticulously on different things from different angles we are able to see some defects in them. Newspapers and magazines are not exceptions from these rules. Even in well-known and authoritative editions one can find a number of logical fallacies. What is a logical fallacy? It is a technical flaw which makes an argument unsound or invalid.

To prove this point I will try to find them in different newspapers and magazines on such subjects as abortion, drugs, entertainment and politics. The problem of abortions is regarded to be a topical issue in almost every country. There are the so-called pro-life and pro-choice movements in the United States who deem that abortions should be banned. Their representatives always stress on negative outcomes of abortions and rarely present the other side of the ledger. As it was explained in a memorandum which is circulated among pro-life forces, The reason [the public is] not in favor of eliminating legalized abortion is that they also believe abortion is somehow necessary for the well-being of the mothers of those babies.

We must break through this mother-versus-baby framing of the issue by bringing to public consciousness in every conceivable way the fact that abortion hurts women. It is true that abortion harms women. But why do not these pro-life representatives emphasize those cases in which abortion is the only way to solve the problem? I mean those situations in which a child was conceived through the violence of rape, incest or in case when woman has an information about the defectiveness of her unborn child. Such children will never be happy in future. They will suffer during their life time.

Is it better than abortion? That is logical fallacy because pro-life and pro-choice representatives do not want to recognize positive effects from abortions. They try to show the world in black or white colors. But we can have shades of gray or even rainbows of colors.

The next point I want to touch upon is drugs. There are different kinds of drugs. Is it possible to call a sportsmen who take steroids drug-addicts? How do steroids influence mans health? How can a well-known sports magazine influence people? These problems were discussed in Flex journal: How could FLEX try to make a positive example out of Tom Prince's story?

He truly learned a lesson by cutting back his steroid use to one-third of what it used to be? FLEX is irresponsible to promote such drugs. Even if the views expressed were Tom Prince's, FLEX printed the article so that millions of people could read that doing a few steroids is not bad. The magazine is also liable because it makes these bodybuilders bigger-than-life heroes. Every day, teenagers pick up this magazine to learn how to become like these monsters, and they get the impression that the only way is not through training or diet, but hard drugs.

Analyzing this citation one can find different types of logical fallacies. Fist of all, it is important to emphasize that it starts with questions. That is why it can be regarded as a fallacy of presupposition. It means that the question presupposes a definite answer to another question which has not even been asked.

This trick is often used by lawyers and politicians. This citation can also be regarded as the so-called straw man fallacy. It means that one misrepresent someone elses position so that it can be attacked more easily, knock down that misrepresented position, then conclude that the original position has been demolished. It is a fallacy because it fails to deal with actual arguments that have been made. In our citation the magazines position was misrepresented. The author emphasized bad influence of magazine more than use of steroids and other drugs.

So, we can see that logical fallacies can sometimes be dangerous for reputation of the press. Another fallacy on the matter of entertainment can be well-observed in the article devoted to the problem of movies, especially to the role of sitcoms in contemporary entertainment industry. As TV Guide senior correspondent Bruce Forests said, Particularly for the younger generation, the traditional sitcom seems kind of corny. Its like the variety show, in a way. It just kind of died out because the format seemed old-fashioned.

This citation falls under the category of circular in demonstrando fallacy. This fallacy occurs if you assume as a premise the conclusion which you wish to reach. Often, the proposition is rephrased so that the fallacy appears to be a valid argument. The author of this citation premise the conclusion which he wants to reach. He uses the word corny, and than supports it by the word old-fashioned. The next fallacy that are closely related with entertainment can be found in the article which presents both sides of the dispute between movie makers and companies whose DVD players edit movies for sexual content, foul language and violence on the right to do so.

Bill Aho said that, This is a choice many families desire. We believe that it is not in the best interest of society for the movie industry, in an effort to extend its artistic control over the experience of viewers, to take actions that would eliminate this choice from families. This fallacy is known as appealing to the people fallacy or argumentum ad popular. One can commit this fallacy if attempts to win acceptance of an assertion by appealing to a large group of people. This form of fallacy is often characterized by emotive language. The author refers to the majority of families so that to approve their decision.

Finally lets move on to politics. There is a plenty of various fallacies closely related to political issues. Some of them we can find in the article addressed the war in Iraq. Ms.

Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, made her critical speech on the matter of Presidential politics in the Middle east: I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers. The emperor has no clothes. When are people going to face the reality? Pull this curtain back. This citation shows us the Appeal to Authority fallacy. In that case the President George W.

Bush is the main authority which author addresses to. There is one more logical fallacy in that article. Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said, If Nancy Pelosi has nothing to offer our troops, who are living and dying thousands of miles away, besides taunting them by saying they are dying needlessly and are risking their lives on a shallow mission, then she should just go back to her pastel colored condo in San Francisco and keep her views to herself.

This fallacy is called argumentum ad hominem and literally means "argument directed at the man." There are two variants of this logical fallacy. One of them is abusive and is was used in this citation and aimed to insult Ms. Pelosi. To conclude it is worth to say that logical fallacies may have controversial purpose. On the one hand they may misinterpret the base content of the statement and can lead to the crisis. We should avoid the above-discussed fallacies when writing articles or making statements for a wider public as they may not sound properly or the way you wanted them to, or these fallacies can simply appear to be invalid.

Research essay sample on One Can Find Newspapers And Magazines