How would you respond?

[Erinome]

This is my first week in this class, and I already want to strangle motherfuckers. It's called Quantitative Literacy, and our first assignment was to find two advertisements that implemented logical fallacies to compel the audience. Then, of course, we were to analyze them, post them in the course forum, and discuss.

There are some people in this class that I consider to be pretty intelligent folks, however, I am utterly disgusted by pretty much everyone's initial responses. I've only responded to three so far, and I was forced to tear them apart, because they were just... all wrong. I don't know if these people didn't read the material, or if they just don't get it, but none of them are ascribing the correct logical fallacies to the advertisement claims. One person suggested that, because an ad for toothpaste claimed that it was recommended by the American Dental Association, it was a fucking appeal to popularity. (Face Palm) They then went on to describe an appeal to popularity, completely missing that the claim of the toothpaste ad was an appeal to authority.

Another one of my classmates posted this Geico ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJrgcmqbuhQ

She then went on to say that it represented an appeal to emotionalism, because the ad was intended to make people think of prejudices, and become angry. Of course, I refuted that, and gave her examples of appeals to emotions by posting other ads that better represented the fallacy. She is now in super defense mode, so I met her half way and said that that, if anything, the ad is an appeal to humor, which technically causes an emotion. I still respectfully disagree with her that the intention of the ad is to make people think of prejudice. The pig actually responds to the officer pretty logically. If I saw a pig driving a car, I would probably call the police myself.

So far, I haven't seen one submission that correctly ascribed a logical fallacy to the advertisement. I am befuddled. Are they really that hard to grasp? One person demonstrated throughout his post that he has no understanding whatsoever of what the word 'skepticism' means.

Direct quote: "I don't find much skepticism with these products but not much truth behind them."

Wha??

Now mind you, I've put off this class for more than a year, because I heard atrocious things about it, so it is a class with many freshmen and sophomore students, but it's still frustrating. I don't even know how to respond without sounding bitchy. lol I feel like Richard Dawkins at a fucking creationist physician convention.

In a classroom setting, how would you respond to idiocy? I have gotten into some trouble before in these types of classes, and although the rubric for this assignment specifically states that we are to point out flaws if we find them as a part of our discussion participation, I wish I knew how to keep them all from getting so defensive.

[Violet]

Just think: in a year, will any of 'this' matter?

If so: strangle them, quickly. There are a lot of them, and you might not have time if they start running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk6AobT_SDo

[Minimalist]

In a classroom setting, how would you respond to idiocy?

By correctly demonstrating a logical fallacy in an advertisement and getting an A on the assignment. Your prof will probably love you for it. Just think, you don't have to take the class more than once but he/she has to teach it every semester.

[thesummerqueen]

In a classroom setting, how would you respond to idiocy?

By correctly demonstrating a logical fallacy in an advertisement and getting an A on the assignment. Your prof will probably love you for it. Just think, you don't have to take the class more than once but he/she has to teach it every semester.

Some profs might. Some hate students who make waves. It's a crapshoot, I've found, at least at community colleges.

[Erinome]

The sad thing is, this is not a community college, it's a big university, and my classmates usually blow my mind with their brilliance. I know most of them are very religious people, as you can't meet someone religious here without them telling you how much they love jesus, and it makes me wonder if religious indoctrination is what makes logical fallacies such a hard concept.

I got a call from my professor a while ago, and I froze with fear that I was about to be chastised, but that wasn't the case. It was about something totally different, but I did ask her if my correcting the mistakes of the other students in the discussion was a problem. She said as long as I was being rational and not making any personal attacks, it would be okay. That's good to know.

As of today, several people have responded to the posts that I responded to yesterday, but all they are doing is congratulating the OP for being correct (even though they're not). I hate these discussion assignments, and I can't wait until this class is over! If it wasn't a prereq for more awesome classes, I would never take it. I do feel sorry for the professor!

[thesummerqueen]

If your professor expressly said that, then Min has the right of it.

Me, I've dealt with some really "NO MAKING WAVES" teachers. You get what you pay for, I suppose.

[Baalzebutt]

To reiterate what the prof said: "Attack the fallacy not the person". If they get defensive about it, then the problem is that they are thin-skinned and cannot take criticism. If they cant accept constructive criticism, they are going to have a REALLY hard time in the world outside of school because, in the real world, it wont just be the fallacy that is attacked, it will be the person that produced the fallacy, real or imagined.

So my advice is to go ahead and continue pointing out the problems with their arguments. It gives you good practice at both spotting the flaws and also (and perhaps, more importantly) great experience with people skills that con come on very handy later in life for management positions and it gives them the opportunity to learn how to take criticism and perhaps grow a thicker skin so the first time they are attacked out in the real world they don't get all butthurt and go running to mommy.

[Minimalist]

it's a big university

And people wonder why American education is in the shitter.

[Shell B]

Why do you care? Why do you want to strangle people because you feel more intelligent than they are? Why not just do your coursework and let them worry about themselves? Just say and do what you are meant to say and do. Alternatively, if you really are that concerned about saying something, don't say shit and just go about your own business. Easy.

Furthermore, stating that something is recommended by the ADA is not an appeal to authority. That is just citing an authority. Saying, "the ADA recommends it. Therefore, you should use it." is an appeal to authority. I say take a deep breath and learn the concepts before freaking out and pointing fingers at your classmates.

[Erinome]

it's a big university

And people wonder why American education is in the shitter.

It's definitely overpriced too!