Category: Trash Talk Tuesday

Trash Talk Tuesday:

Time once again for us martial arts bloggers to learn:
1) How NOT to make a case for or against someone or something
2) Why certain comments set our teeth on edge
3) How to stay focused when discussing our arts

An ad in a comic book reads:  Sign up today for Sensei Rockum Sockum’s Home Study Karate Kourse or be the victim of bullies forever!

Fear tends to dampen our thinking process a bit.  This is why it is often used in advertising – has anyone over the last forty years ever actually been taunted in public by someone singing, “Ring around the collar”???  Hmm.    The comic book ad above makes some pretty broad assumptions.  Is the reader a victim?  The reader could be one of those people who is navigating high school just fine, thank you.   The ad implies there is no other option for dealing with bullies other than taking the Home Study Karate Kourse.  Thankfully we know that is not the case.

Note that a direct threat is not appeal to fear, but is simply a threat.  An example:  “Gimme your lunch money or I’ll give you a wedgie!”

If you’d like to learn more, you can follow along in the book The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

Trash Talk Tuesday:

Time once again for us martial arts bloggers to learn:
1) How NOT to make a case for or against someone or something
2) Why certain comments set our teeth on edge
3) How to stay focused when discussing our arts

Neighbor Nate is getting fed up with the Disciple of Master Trik-Ki Woo who came to his door peddling membership in the Kung Fu Kollege.

Neighbor Nate:  Look, pal, I work out at the gym and I’m happy with that.  I don’t have any interest in learning Kung Fu and I don’t think I’m in any danger from alien zombies.

Cultist:  Oh yeah?  Well, prove that there won’t be an alien zombie invasion!

Neighbor Nate:  Oh for crying out loud.  I don’t have to listen to this…

Cultist:  You can’t prove it, can you?  Therefore, my Master is right – there will be one, and you’d better prepare for it by training with us!

[Neighbor Nate slams the door in the cultist’s face]

Way to shift the burden of proof, Cultist!  The cultist knows he has nothing to back up his assertion, so he attempts to shift attention.  Obviously, the cultist lacks the spine to go do his own research – perhaps he fears finding out some very uncomfortable truths about Master Trik-Ki Woo!  Neighbor Nate could have pointed this out, but really – if someone is that brainwashed, disengaging is always an option 🙂

If you’d like to learn more, you can follow along in the book _The Fallacy Detective_ by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

Time once again for us martial arts bloggers to learn:
1) How NOT to make a case for or against someone or something
2) Why certain comments set our teeth on edge
3) How to stay focused when discussing our arts

 

Disciple of Master Trik-Ki Woo:  Ha!  I made your instructor wince when I attacked him with my Finger of Death from across the room!  That proves my art is better than what you do, prancing around in your pretty white pajamas.

White Belt Wanda:  I happen to know Sensei Stewart had two bean burritos for lunch.   We all went out for Mexican after the morning session.

Disciple:  Look, he’s bowing out of your training area now because I’m controlling him with the mind powers my Master taught me!

Wanda: Nonsense.  He’s heading for the restroom.  Now either shut up and train with us, sit quietly and watch us, or get out of our dojo.

Disciple:  You’re next, pretty girl!  Prepare yourself for the Finger of Death!

Wanda:  Ooo, I’m scared…  Hey, what happens if I pull your Finger of Death?

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc – “After this, therefore because of this.”  It’s quite possible both Disciple and Wanda are committing this fallacy.   Disciple is assuming Sensei Stewart’s behavior is the direct result of the Finger of Death.  Wanda’s idea of the effects of bean burritos on her Sensei’s digestive system is more plausible because many people do suffer ill effects from eating beans.  However, it could be that Sensei Stewart has an iron g.i. tract and was wincing at the sight of an outlandishly dressed cultist waving his pinky finger.  Sensei Stewart might have bowed out of the dojo in order to call a cab to take the Disciple back to Master Trik-Ki Woo’s headquarters.
If you’d like to learn more, you can follow along in the book _The Fallacy Detective_ by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

Time once again for us martial arts bloggers to learn:
1) How NOT to make a case for or against someone or something
2) Why certain comments set our teeth on edge
3) How to stay focused when discussing our arts

White Belt Wally says, “I’m studying Karate, therefore I’m just like Bruce Lee!   Watch me do a flying kick!”

SPLAT!!!

White Belt Wally has very little in common with Bruce Lee.  The differences between him and Bruce Lee are vast, therefore White Belt Wally is using a weak analogy to argue that he can do a flying kick.

When the differences are minor, you have a strong analogy:

Sensei Sam says it is possible for a student in Hayashi-ha Shito Ryu Karate to adapt to Shindo Jinen-Ryu Karate fairly easily because the basics are very similar.   Therefore, White Belt Wanda doesn’t have to fret about switching to another style after she moves from Seattle to Portland.
If you’d like to learn more, you can follow along in the book The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

Time once again for us martial arts bloggers to learn:
1) How NOT to make a case for or against someone or something
2) Why certain comments set our teeth on edge
3) How to stay focused when discussing our arts

 

An ad in a comic book reads:  Either train yourself to fight using Sensei Rockum Sockum’s Home Study Karate Kourse and never get bullied again or continue living life as a wimpy little weenie!

If we really have no more than two things to choose from, there is no fallacy.  In this case, there is a plethora of choices.  Sensei Rockum Sockum hopes we’ll think being a wimpy little weenie is so intolerable that we’ll think we must buy his product to avoid this awful fate.  Always question the agenda behind an “either-or” statement and think of alternatives.

If you’d like to learn more, you can follow along in the book The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn