Fallacies in the Newspaper -- Journalism

The effective use of grandiosity can spur people into action for worthy causes, bring close to positive health changes, and yet persuade one to finish a college education. In contrast, like most things in life, what can be apply for good can also be used in a negative way to elicit emotions such as outrage, fear, and panic. This type of rhetoric often uses fallacious statements in an appeal to emotion which complicates the matter even more as the emotions are misdirected. Unfortunately, the daily newspapers are filled with legion(predicate) examples of fallacious statements. Within the past week, the following five examples appeared in the reinvigorated York Times and USA Today. The examples included statements that demonstrated scapegoating, slippery slope, ad hominem, wheat man, line-drawing, arguments from outrage, and arguments from envy.The first example, in an article about the current condition of income and riches in the United States, the author stated that th e fact that Americans are earning slight and worth less than four years ago was started by the fiscal crisis and the sharp decline in the value of homes, the principal asset of Americans, followed by the sharp drop in the stock prices. The crisis led to stubbornly high unemployment that cut income for many Americans and made wage increases harder to obtain for those who did hold on to their jobs (Norris, 2012). The drop in housing prices is used as a scapegoating technique for the general financial condition of Americans. Scapegoating is a technique that places blame on a specific group for a certain circumstance (Moore & Parker, 2012, p. 187). By placing blame on the housing industry, Norris attempts to demonstrate that the American public is more often than not experiencing financial ... ...Retrieved from New York Times http//www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/business/economy/as-recovery-drags-on-income-and-wealth-lag.htmlOhio State University. (2012). statistical Summary. Retri eved from Ohio State University.edu http//www.osu.edu/osutoday/stuinfo.phpSaad, L. (2012). Pro-choice Americans at low 41%. Retrieved from Gallup Politics http//www.gallup.com/ poll/154838/Pro-Choice-Americans-Record-Low.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All%20Gallup%20Headlines?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=gallupnews&utm_cSara lee(prenominal) Annual Report. (2012). Sara Lee Annual Report 2011. Retrieved from Sara Lee Corporation http//www.saralee.com/ourcompany/sl11ar/pdf/2011SL_Financials.pdfUSDA. (2011). Profiling food drug addiction in America. Retrieved from USDA.gov http//www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf