The, "Asking for a friend" phrase.
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Original Question
I have noticed a lot of social media memes use the phrase, "asking for a friend" after they have hidden a false or misleading suggestion/claim into a question. The phrase seems to be used as a subtile manipulation tactic to help convince people of the false claim. Is this a logical fallacy or a cognitive bias at play here?
Example:
"So... If shutting down Russia's Pipeline is suppose to cripple their economy, why did we shut ours down? Asking for a friend...."
Now, obviously this meme is trying to show a contradiction in Biden by telling us that Biden shutting down the XL Keystone Pipeline is the cause for our higher gas prices. And that him sanctioning Russias oil is a contradiction. But, its covert and not explicit so they can have plausible deniability. And the asking for a friend at the end seems to solidify the argument. What is this kind of manipulative phenomena thats happening here?
Comments on Question
Answers
2I despise the "asking for a friend" gambit. I bet some time in 1982, this was both funny and clever, but now has become a hackneyed phrase that shows lack of originality. I see this as simply a poor attempt at humor since it is clear the person is expressing their own views.
We must remember and consider the possibility that the person is genuinely mistaken. They might actually believe false/misleading/irrelevant claim X and thus bake it into their question.
For instance, if they see 'shutting down Russia's pipeline' as an attempt to damage their economy, they might make this implicit argument:
P1) Shutting down Russia's pipeline will damage their economy
Implicit P) Shutting down pipelines damages economies
P2) We shut down our pipeline
C) Therefore we will damage our economy
You can take issue with implicit P) by arguing it is simplistic/ambiguous, and thus show there is no contradiction in Biden's actions. But it wouldn't mean they are deliberately being manipulative or sly. It would be a genuine misunderstanding.
In cases where someone is purposefully being sly, this is not a fallacy, but a form of bad faith participation where someone enters a debate with ulterior motives aside from seriously discussing the issue. But, as we've seen above, it is easy to confuse bad faith with innocent misconceptions made in good faith , so context matters here.
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Call me dense, but I can't see how any of this (the OP and the discussion so far) "asking for a friend" thing describes a "logical fallacy." The use of the meme might be intended as a deception (manipulation) A logical fallacy might be deceptive, but a deception per se is not necessarily a logical fallacy. And too, if the use of the meme is based on factual ignorance (factual error) how is its use in any way an argument in logical form, i.e., premises -> conclusion?
Have I misread or misunderstood this discussion?