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By Neece, on March 12, 2010, at 8:18 am
 Lately I’ve been thinking about logical fallacies used in advertising and marketing. The argument from authority when someone in a lab coat tells you what to buy, argumentum ad populum which is “appeal to the people” because everyone else is buying this product so you should too.
One of my pet peeves is multigrain labels emblazoned on foods lately. Technically the food has more than one grain in it, but they are touting the product as something healthy when they have still stripped all fiber and goodness out, so the health benefits are still lacking. This is very popular in cereals, and unless you read the label you’d think you were buying something healthy, when really it’s just as junky as cocoa puffs.
The “no sugar added” label is another one I find quite vague. There are several different iterations of this one. No sugar added, sugar free, the [...]
By Neece, on January 15, 2010, at 5:23 pm
Butch, my awesome husband, found the following 4 act play with lobsters in trees. I have added a bit of information for your edumacation enjoyment. Who knew some lobsters were so daft?
Act 1: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (after this, therefore because of this). Since the event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one.
By Neece, on January 8, 2010, at 8:57 am
 The logical fallacy known as The Slippery Slope wrongly assumes that one thing must lead to another, and another and before you know it you get to something awful. Therefore you can’t do the first thing. This is a very common fallacy. It’s also known as the Fallacy of the Beard.
In an argument, it is the situation where acceptance of a minor detail of the opposing position will greatly weaken your position.
This is Part 10 in a series about Logical Fallacies. We are going through one fallacy at a time. There are many types of fallacious arguments. I’m going to try to explain them with examples then find ways to help you refute those arguments when they occur. Please comment or email if there’s a particular fallacy you want me to tackle, or if you have success with refuting an argument using a good [...]
By Neece, on December 19, 2009, at 11:09 pm
The other day I wrote to Anne in response to some questions she emailed me. She replied not long after in another email. Here is an excerpt (I’ve removed the more private information): (Note: I’ve added some happy puppies playing in the snow since this topic can be rather serious, and we are having the biggest snow in WV that I’ve seen since we moved here 5 years ago)
Thank you for answering my email. I am only 21 and it seams that I am searching for myself and what it is that I can believe. I see how people lie on a daily basis to make the even more entertaining than the event really was so I find it hard to believe anything that is told to me. Giving this way of living I find it tremendously hard to base my life and way of [...]
By Neece, on November 28, 2009, at 2:34 pm
 I think Epicurus said it best and most succinctly: Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him god?
Epicurus 341-270 BCE
But August Berkshire gives 15 excuses religious people give for the horrible behavior of their god, which I thought you might enjoy. You can also read this article as a trifold pdf.
If a god exists who is all-powerful and all-loving, then why is there evil in the world? For the sake of this argument, let’s concede that the harm that humans do is a misuse of our free will, for which a god cannot [...]
By Neece, on November 22, 2009, at 5:03 pm
 OMG, yo! Hide the good silver! Run for your lives! The Mayans say the world will end December 21, 2012 and that’s only 2 years and a month away! Whatever will we do?!
Of course the Mayans themselves didn’t survive till 2012, so maybe they aren’t the best group to ask about such things. 
Recently a friend of mine mentioned the 2012 phenomenon as if it were true. Unfortunately I didn’t have the hard facts at my disposal so I told him it’s not going to happen and left it at that. But I thought I’d look up some more information so when your mother starts talking about the end of the world, you will have some facts to back you up.
Lucky for me, NASA and Wikipedia have pages to explain where the concept came from [...]
By Neece, on November 18, 2009, at 2:30 am
By Russell Blackford and Udo Schuklenk, Comment Is Free.
Civility has its uses, but atheists should not be afraid to mock faith to undermine religious [...]
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Lately I’ve been thinking about logical fallacies used in advertising and marketing. The argument from authority when someone in a lab coat tells you what to buy, argumentum ad populum which is “appeal to the people” because everyone else is buying this product so you should too.
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