Jonathan Burton
Webassignment 3
A small child named Tommy had just moved from his home in Montana to a new house in Alabama because his father had a job transfer after his fourth birthday. After several weeks of unpacking Tommy became bored and decided to take a walk outside. Once he got outside he started walking up the street. A couple houses up the street he saw some people sitting outside a house and talking in a very funny sounding language. He remembered how all the people spoke when he lived back in Montana and this did not sound at all like that. He began thinking that perhaps these people were not people at all but some kind of robots or aliens1.
Tommy went home to his mom that evening and asked her about the funny speaking robots down the street. She laughing at his innocent ignorance and explained to him that those were in fact people like them but with their speech sounds different because they have an accent that they developed from where they live. Later that night at the dinner table, Tommy finished his meal and began to crave cake for desert. Suddenly, remembering back to his birthday last year and how he wanted to eat his birthday cake when he saw it sitting on the counter, he jumped up and exclaimed, “It’s my birthday!” Startled, his father asked him for an explanation. Tommy told him about him wanting cake at that moment just like he did back on his birthday. His father gently explained to him that just because he wanted some cake and that the last time they served him cake was on his birthday it does not necessarily mean that today is his birthday2. Saddened but still hungry for his cake, Tommy excused himself and helped himself to a large piece of chocolate double fudge cake.
A few years later Tommy started preschool. He seemed to be enjoying it until one day he came from and was furious. He told his parents that when they were doing a reading activity he took a book out of his friend’s hands because he wanted to read it. Then, his teacher told him to go sit in the corner in time-out the rest of the day. “Mrs. Johnson just put me in the corner because she hates me. She always yells at me and never lets me have any fun3.” Once again Tommy had to be explained that the reason for him being sent into timeout was not the teacher’s fault but rather his own fault.
Next year Tommy started kindergarten. He right away became best friends with Todd, a funny red-headed boy. One day out at recess the two boys got into an argument over their Power Rangers toys. “The red ranger is the most powerful of all the rangers because he is the leader,” declared Tommy. Todd answered, “How can you say he is the most powerful ranger?” Without hesitating Tommy replied, “Because the rangers would only want the most powerful ranger as their leader.”4 A little confused, Todd told him that he did not make any sense. They argued a little longer until they eventually agreed that the Red Ranger is the leader because the other Rangers think that he makes the best leader.
After a long year in kindergarten Tommy was ready for the first grade. He was a little bit nervous because he would now be going to school for the full day instead of just the morning like the previous year. His parents packed him a lunch and put it into his favorite purple lunch box and drove him to school. The school day seemed to be going quite well until it came time for lunch. Tommy carried his lunchbox over to a table where a few boys in his class were sitting. When he sat down one of the kids shouted out “Haha! You have a girl’s lunchbox!” The whole table erupted into laughter and Tommy turned beat red with embarrassment. Wanting the kids to stop laughing at him he quickly shot back at the kid by saying “Yeah? Well, your lunchbox is blue and my mommy’s favorite color is blue and since she’s a girl that means your lunchbox is girly!”5. Immediately the children started laughing at the boy and Tommy walked off to another table feeling very proud of himself.
1. - Non sequitur. This happens when someone draws a conclusion about something but the conclusion does not logically follow the supporting points from which it was drawn.
2. - False/Vague Premises. In this case, one’s conclusion does following its supporting points logically but one of the points is either false or unclear.
3. - Ad Hominem. Someone becomes guilty of this when attack the person themselves in an argument instead of attacking their contradicting point of view.
4. - Begging the Question. Begging the question is an attempt to prove that something is true while first assuming that the point is already true.
5. - “Red Herring”. This happens when someone becomes emotionally riled up in an argument and makes a comment about someone that is completely irrelevant and done only to displace the attention from them.