The Snuggie...fallacies!

This infomercial is full of fallacies! First it presents a hasty generalization when it says, "You want to keep warm when you are feeling chilled, but you don't want to raise your heating bill." It is not safe to assume that everyone wants to "keep warm" when they feel "chilled." Some people might like feeling chilled, especially if they have been burning up in the hot outside temperatures. Also, they might not care about raising the heating bill if they are not the ones responsible for paying it. The infomercial goes on to make another hasty generalization by saying that when "you" use a blanket and "need to reach for something, your hands are trapped inside." One cannot assume that all people would have their hands "trapped inside" or, for that matter, that all people even have hands. Therefore using a blanket would not necessarily serve as an inconvenience and that is not proper grounds to sell the Snuggie on. Another fallacy is committed when the announcer says, "The Snuggie is machine washable so you will get years of warmth and comfort." Does anyone know what fallacy category that would fall under? I'm not sure, but I'm sure it is a fallacy.

The newspaper industry is dying, and although people appear to be smarter when the read the newspaper, that has not been enough of a draw for me to join them. I get my news online. My computer has a box in the corner that constantly streams live feed from the MSNBC website. This box displays four titles at a time that constantly refresh, and if I am interested in one of them I will click it and read the paragraph summary that is displayed. If I am interested further, I will then click on the link which takes people to the MSNBC website and displays the full text article. This is really convinient because the titles are there all the time and if something shocking happens I am bound to see it. However, I do not have to sort through a bunch of space-filler stories when the news is dead--I can simply chose not to read those. News via the internet is quite convenient and much easier than sifting through a newspaper. Those things are so large I can barely hold them open, and when it comes to closing it, just forget it. It's a miserable experience for someone as OCD as I am--all of those pages bent unevenly and not fitting back into the bag the way they were intended to drives me nuts! In my opinion newspapers should be reserved for papier-mâché, not reading. Why else should we waste so much paper when the news can be read online?

Extra Credit fallacy assignment #1

According to dictionary.com, ad hominem is "attacking an opponent's character rather than answering his argument." Or, in other words, saying that person A would not be good for doing job X because there is something wrong with his character that does not even relate to job X.


In this video, the Obama administration attacks McCain using an Ad Hominen fallacy. It basically says that because John McCain owns seven houses, he would not be a good president. It says America can not "afford" for him to live in the White House, but in reality, him owning seven houses reflects nothing on whether or not he would have been a good president.

The video can be seen here:

Why we need Harry

There should be a Harry Potter museum because it's one of the cultural phenomena of the 21st century. It's just one of those things that people will always talk about, refer back to, or allude to even in day to day discussion. One must have an understanding of what Harry Potter is or he will not understand many things and be highly confused about why so many people speak so highly of what appears to be a simple children's book about magic. Also, this museum should be built because museums are supposed to be fun, and kids should be able to connect to the subject matter while the parents enjoy it as well.




Today, museums are often used as a place where teachers bring their students and force them to pay attention outside of class. The problem with this lies in the fact that children take this to mean that all museums are boring.

This is a growing problem as Americans are getting fatter and lazier, and the world is becoming more and more technological. People are slowly starting to choose not to go to museums because they can either find what they are looking for online, or be entertained simply by staying at home and watching tv while not having to pay an admission fee. A Harry Potter museum would be a great experience for a child, and lead them to understand that many other museums are fun as well. It is important for today's children to think this way or else the entire museum business will die out.

California Natural History Museum

The first week back to class after spring break, I visited the Natural History Museum with my ceramics class. Outside of the museum there is a giant statue of two dinosaurs with flowers all around. Upon entering the museum, one can see into the gift shop while standing in line to get a ticket. This is very strategically placed as the gift shop will bring in a lot of money and start the kids off with excitement. Immediately past the ticket podium, the skeletons of the two dinosaurs portrayed in the statue outside are on display in the same towering way. Once inside, my class went up the stairs past some weird Africa things and walked around a display of variously sized sea shells. Then we walked up another stair case and took a left into the ancient ceramic/stone/metal artifact room. The room was dimply lit and appropriately decorated. We saw these amazing pieces which had been crafted without tools or kilns thousands of years ago. A woman gave us a presentation about how many of the ceramic vessels made sound. They acted as whistles. There was also a projector/computer in the room that you could pull up images on of which ever piece you wanted to look at more closely from all angles. The museum was separated by exhibits and had some interesting things in it, however it did not seem very hands on.