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Jason Mathias

Internet memes often have multiple fallacies within a single sentence.

I ran across this meme on social media today. 

"Are we being quarantined until there are no germs left in the world, or until the election is over? "

The entire question is framed as a Complex Question Fallacy because the question has a presupposition built into it.

Since only two options are given, it also makes it a False Dilemma Fallacy. There are a lot more than just the two options given. 

This is also a Non-Sequitur Fallacy since quarantine does not eliminate all germs on earth, therefore the conclusion does not follow from the premise. 

Does anyone else observe on social media that the more fallacious the meme, the more popular and viral it becomes? Most human beings seem to gravitate towards fallacious reasoning, does anyone know why this happens?

I also dare not reply to the meme as I do here, for whenever I do I get personally attacked and ridiculed very harshly with a slue of even more fallacies. When I call out those fallacies in an effort to help them with their reasoning it just seems to confuse and anger the commenter and the commenters tribe even more. They seem to have a fight or flight response to learning logic. Does anyone know why this is?

asked on Thursday, May 14, 2020 05:45:53 PM by Jason Mathias

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TrappedPrior (RotE)
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Does anyone else observe on social media that the more fallacious the meme, the more popular and viral it becomes? Most human beings seem to gravitate towards fallacious reasoning, does anyone know why this happens?

Idk about the first Q. For the second, humans didn't necessarily evolve with rationality in mind; they evolved for survival and reproduction instead. Thus, rather than invoking conscious thought processes that examine relevant information, sequence them, and form logical conclusions, humans rely on subconscious heuristics, or mental shortcuts. These are helpful in life-or-death situations, but society has moved faster than evolution and we're now no longer in a constant struggle for survival. Thus, they become barriers to higher thought.

This explains why fallacious thinking is in easy reach. Why do humans opt for it? Less cognitive effort. Thinking about things, and thinking about thinking (metacognition) takes time and energy. Why do that when you can rely on reflexive thinking to do the work for you? It's the equivalent of putting your brain on autopilot. You 'think', while not having to do anything - explaining the pervasive nature of cognitive biases, logical fallacies and thought-terminating clichés. 

I feel like a hubristic asshole for 'dunking' on the 'average person' (who may or may not be more intelligent than I am led to believe), however, these observations are largely correct.

answered on Friday, May 15, 2020 06:05:58 PM by TrappedPrior (RotE)

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Bryan
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Firstly I would say that "Are we being quarantined until there are no germs left in the world, or until the election is over? " Is a rhetorical question. It's framed with a false premise, that the quarantine is supposedly intended to eliminate all germs, and then is supposed to be some woke nonsense reveal of the real reason. 

Secondly the type of person that reacts to this is the conspiracy theory type, who accept every claim which has no evidence, while dismissing anything which is evidenced. They aren't interested in reason or logic, but rather in having their bias confirmed. 

What's funny is that they tend to call people sheep, whilst blindly following whatever evidenceless and absurd claim is put before them.

I think Bo might have more insight into why people behave like this, but I would imagine it goes back to living in small groups where a dominant leader made decisions which the group followed. Even to the extent of making a show of how well you are following to curry favour. We all like to think that we are fair and reasonable, but we do so in conflict with thousands of years of conditioning. 

answered on Friday, May 15, 2020 06:59:24 AM by Bryan

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