Spot the Fallacy: Anti-Asian Hate

I thought it might be fun and educational (with Dr. Bo's blessing, of course) to introduce a new game called "spot the fallacy." The idea is to take a current event, particularly a politicized one, and see if we can identify any logical fallacies in the thinking being expressed by the public figures (politicians, activists, journalists, blue checkmarks, etc.) who are talking about it.

My intent is for this to be a non-ideological and non-partisan exercise. That is, I would hope we can keep the game from devolving into partisan criticism of one side or the other. The point of the game is to train oneself to identify logical fallacies in the arguments we all hear every day. With that one rule in mind, I propose that anyone be allowed to start a new game using "Spot the Fallacy" in the question title (as I have done).

Below is how I envision a post for a new game looking, using a hot topic that has been on my mind of late.

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Example #1: "With the recent shooting at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia, in which eight women — six of whom were Asian — were killed, a similar dynamic appears to be at play, but on a significantly more serious scale. Days after the shooting, local law enforcement has yet to call this a hate crime ...

"The Atlanta killings come on the heels of a growing spate of anti-Asian attacks taking various forms...according to a study of police data released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino, hate crimes against Asian Americans in 16 US cities rose 149% in 2020 over the previous year. New York City saw an alarming 833% rise during the same period."

(Source: "How are the Atlanta spa shootings NOT a hate crime?" Euny Hong, CNN Opinion)

Example #2: "Throughout the pandemic, former president Donald Trump often referred to COVID-19 as the 'Chinese virus' and 'kung flu.' He argued that the terms weren’t racist.

"A newly released report from Stop AAPI Hate found that there were at least 3,795 reported hate incidents that targeted Asian Americans from March 19, 2020 — soon after the pandemic was declared — to Feb. 28."

(Source:  "Joe Biden And Kamala Harris Condemned The 'Scapegoating' Of Asian Americans After The Shooting In Atlanta," Ryan Brooks, BuzzFeed)

Spot the fallacy.

You have my secular blessing :)

That is, I would hope we can keep the game from devolving into partisan criticism of one side or the other.

I would say that calling fallacious reasoning on one side is pretty much the same thing, and that's okay. Let's just do our best to stick to the fallacies and not the politics (although the line is sometimes blurred).

Example #1: the fact that this incident came "on the heels" of increased anti-Asian related crimes has no direct bearing on this crime. The crime should be evaluated on its own merits independent from other crimes. Just like if a five-year-old steals a lollypop at a local store, it doesn't make it more likely to be a hate crime given the environment. This could be an example of poisoning the well — priming the audience to accept this as a hate crime before evidence warrants that call.

Example #2: The implication here seems to be that Trump's rhetoric is at least partly responsible for the hate incidents. As a social psychologist, (in my professional opinion), I would say that is accurate given the power he has over his followers. While I don't agree his comments were "racist" in the classical use of the term, the insistence of calling it the "China Virus" is clearly focusing the blame on the Chinese people. Given the ignorance of many Americans who can't tell the difference between Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc., it becomes an issue of race—anger and hatred toward an entire race.

What would be interesting to see is how anti-Asian crimes have increased in other parts of the world since the pandemic, in relationship to the USA. While Trump had global influence, the influence is strongest in the USA. If the percentage increase was greatest in the USA, then this would be strong evidence that his rhetoric was responsible, at least to the degree warranted by the difference in percentage increase between USA and other countries. So I see no fallacy in this second example.

Example #1: For it to be a hate crime it would need to be proven that it was directed at Asians. As far as I now that has not been done.

Example #2 Donald Trump could have been using those terms because of where it came from. You still would have to prove he meant it in an racist way.