Category: 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

Sempai Susan:  I think the tournament organizers should be more flexible when it comes to team kata divisions.  Our dojo is small, so we don’t have three gals the same age or three guys the same age.  Even if we mixed gals and guys, the most we’d have is two people roughly the same age.  The rules really ought to be revised to allow smaller dojos to have a better chance of competing in team kata.

Sempai Sally: I can’t believe you’re trashing the way tournaments are run!  Obviously you think having divisions is bunk.  I’ll bet you want beginning middle-aged women to have a chance to fight 16-18 year old advanced men!

Uh oh – ten pushups for Sempai Sally!  She’s building a straw man – a fake argument that is easy to knock down.  It’s easy to argue against the opinion that having divisions in tournaments is a bad idea.  It’s much harder to build an effective case against Sempai Susan’s actual opinion about team kata divisions.  Sempai Sally is blowing things out of proportion in order to divert the argument and make Sempai Susan look bad.  Politicians use Straw Man a lot.

Here’s one of many responses Sempai Susan could give…

Sempai Susan:  I’m not saying that at all.  I’m just saying it’d be fun if we could put together  a team kata or two and actually compete.  You know, you do Bassai Dai pretty well – whaddaya say we grab Sempai Steven over there and try synchronizing even if we can’t compete?

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

 

This week’s lesson was co-written with my daughter!

White Belt:  Hey, Sensei!  All the other white belts think I should’ve been testing at the last promotion.  Why didn’t you have me test?

Just because a lot of people think something doesn’t mean any of them have any authority on the subject. This fallacy is very similar to the faulty appeal to authority fallacy  and can even be considered an exaggerated version. It’s a mistake to quote one person who has no expertise on the subject, so it’s an even bigger mistake to quote many people who have no expertise on the subject.

Wannabe:  Sensei Rockum Sockum has fifteen thousand followers on YouTube, therefore he must be awesome!

White Belt:  Did you check the comments on some of his videos?  It looks like at least three quarters of his subscribers are picking apart his techniques and his credentials.  Therefore, Sensei Rockum Sockum is a fraud.

Hmmm, look over that dialogue again…  Yes, both “Wannabe” and “White Belt” are guilty of the Appeal to the People fallacy!  “White Belt” needs to do some independent research and come up with solid evidence that Sensei Rockum Sockum isn’t what he claims to be.

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 debating

Geek One: In my opinion, you simply need to re-boot your computer.

Geek Two: Bruce Lee said, “Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.”  I’m so frustrated I just have to kick this computer.  That’ll fix the problem with it!

Bruce Lee might have been an authority on martial arts, but he died before home computers were even invented.  Geek Two is appealing to someone who is widely respected but has no knowledge of the topic.  This logical fallacy is called, “Faulty Appeal to Authority.”

By the way, pouring water into the computer so the water will become the computer isn’t a good idea either.  The computer will crash, not flow.

Someone who uses Faulty Appeal to Authority is hoping we will be reluctant to challenge the expert’s viewpoint.  We mustn’t give in!

White Belt:  I’m fixing a spinach salad to have with my lunch because the nutritionist I saw last week said if I eat more leafy greens I will have more endurance while training.

Wannabe:  Sensei Rockum Sockum doesn’t touch spinach.  He said on one of his YouTube videos that there’s toxins in spinach that’ll make your legs turn to Jello.

White Belt:  Last I checked, Sensei Rockum Sockum doesn’t have a Master’s degree in Nutrition.

Wannabe: Does your nutritionist have a YouTube following of fifteen thousand subscribers like Sensei Rockum Sockum?

White Belt: No, but she worked hard in college and my doctor highly recommended her.  Here, just try my spinach salad – I put bacon in it!

Sometimes an issue is controversial and not clear cut.  In that case, don’t stick to any one authority.  Present both sides, quote equal authorities and/or support your case with other evidence such as statistics.

Black Belt One:  I love kicks because I can keep my body out of the way of my opponent until I’m ready to follow up with something else – and sometimes that might be another kick!

Black Belt Two: Kicks can be useful, but you run the risk of someone sweeping you, so I favor punches when I’m sparring.

White Belt One:  You hear that?  Sensei One says kicks rule!  I’m SO using kicks against you first chance I get!

White Belt Two:  Um, I heard two equally qualified experts discussing their preferences.  How about we try both kicking and punching next time we spar?

White Belt One:  I have an idea – I’m going to the next tournament and I’ll write down some statistics based on direct observation of points scored by the competitors.  Kicks will come out on top, I guarantee you!

White Belt Two: Have fun with that.  I’m going to ask Sensei Two to show me some leg sweeps.

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 debating

 

White Belt One:  I’ve noticed you have a tendency to rise up in your stance when you move.  Maybe you should watch yourself in the mirror and think about keeping your belt the same height as you move.

White Belt Two:  Oh yeah?  Well, Captain Kangaroo, you do it too.  So don’t tell me how to practice.

Do we detect a bit of ad hominem sauce in Two’s response?  Yes, fallacies can be combined!  The trick is to counter the main fallacy – in this case, Tu Quoque.  Tu Quoque is Latin for “You also.”  Two is hoping to shift attention away from his own inadequacies by pointing out that One is also having the same problem with moving in stances.

Stick to your guns with Tu Quoque.

White Belt One:  Yes, I do pop up, and I’m working on it.  Here comes Sensei – I’ll let you ask her about watching yourself in a mirror.

Let’s try another example.

Tom:  I know you really like Sensei Rockum Sockum, but I’m just not sure about his credentials.  I did some checking, and I think he got his black belt from a Cracker Jack box.  I bought fifteen boxes of Cracker Jacks, opened them up, and sure enough!  One of them had a black belt in it that looks just like Sensei Rockum Sockum’s belt.

Sam:  Oh yeah?!?  Well the style of Karate you study was founded by some guy who didn’t have any credentials or even a black belt!  Nobody who practiced Karate used to have any framed certificates on their walls or cute little belts around their middles.  I’m staying with Sensei Rockum Sockum’s Home Study Karate Kourse, thank you very much!

What Sam says about the founders of many of the styles of Karate is true.  However, the real issue is that Tom has some evidence that Sensei Rockum Sockum might be a fraud.  Can Sam prove Tom’s evidence is flimsy?  Sam isn’t even trying – he’s dodging the issue!  Sam is attempting to shift attention away from what is, to him, a very uncomfortable subject.  The tricky thing with Tu Quoque is not to let the discussion degenerate.

A less than ideal response:  Oh yeah?  Well at least my Sensei earned his belt.  You know, you’re really thick if you can’t see through Sensei Rockum Sockum.

A pretty good counter:  It’s true that way back when, nobody had any belts except to hold up their pants.  But let’s talk more about your instructor.  I have more evidence that Sensei Rockum Sockum’s credentials are questionable, to say the least.

Genetic Fallacy – A Baseless Attack Against the Source.

Daniel:  Mr. Miyagi said, “Secret to punch, make power of whole body fit inside one inch, here.”

Johnny:  And who’s Mr. Miyagi?  A repair man!  What a loser.  What does a handyman know about karate anyway?

It’s OK to check out the source of information and to verify its validity.  That’s good research.  But to dismiss the argument just because it came from an unlikely source is a logical fallacy.  A handyman could very well be a black belt in his spare time.  Johnny’s dismissive and insulting attitude indicates he’s not looking for Daniel to verify Mr. Miyagi’s credentials!

It’s interesting that good ideas can come from bad sources, so we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater by committing the genetic fallacy.  For example, let’s think about leg sweeps.  Kreese, the evil Sensei from the original “Karate Kid” movie (1984), expressed the idea that a leg sweep is a good way to disable an opponent.  Are we going to drop leg sweeps from our training just because Kreese likes leg sweeps?  That would be ridiculous.  However, if we really want to quote someone, we might just want to find out if Bruce Lee said anything about leg sweeps 😉

Now for a little sparring drill.  Practice keeping a cool head while reading the following:

Karate class is no place for Christians.  Karate comes from those pagan Eastern countries, therefore karate is of the Devil.

Deep breath – in through the nose, out through the mouth!  Let me help you cool down if your heart rate is up a bit.  I’ve read this sentiment in different places but no one has ever said it to my face – in fact there’s a lot of people in my church who think it’s pretty cool I get to do something fun with my daughter. Good job, you got through this drill just fine 🙂

One of many gentle counters to the above fallacy could be:

Fireworks came from Asia, so should we stop using them to celebrate the Fourth of July?

Remember, you’re not supposed to get riled up about logical fallacies.  Recognize them for what they are – all smoke and fury, signifying nothing.  Choose your fights wisely.

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