Ha...see how much sexier argumentation sounds when you use French??? Erreur glissante de pente is French for The Slippery Slope Fallacy. Just in time for Valentine's Day, you can woo the object of your interest by saying, "Pardon, mon ami, regardez cette pente glissante ! (Excuse me, my love, look at that slippery slope!") Isn't that romantic? I KNOW!!! The slippery slope fallacy can be funny or serious. IE: If you smoke a bowl one time when you are eighteen, you'll end up adicted to crack and hallucinating and jumping out of a window...is a slippery slope...think of a snowball rolling down hill, starts out tiny, ends up HUGE! See how this fits into humor? Slippery slope, glissante de pente can be very funny! My Dad is the king of glissante de pente!!! "Sandra...If you don't change your oil every three thousand miles, your car wil certainly blow up !"
Examples of Serious Slippery Slope Claims
"We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester!"
"The US shouldn't get involved militarily in other countries. Once the government sends in a few troops, it will then send in thousands to die."
"You can never give anyone a break. If you do, they'll walk all over you."
"We've got to stop them from banning pornography. Once they start banning one form of literature, they will never stop. Next thing you know, they will be burning all the books!"
For this blog, 1. State an original (read your classmates' & come up with YOUR OWN or critique somebody else's) humorously exagerated slippery slope argument in OR about one of the superbowl commercials OR halftime show (HINT: think Janet compared to Paul...was that a slippery slope??? Oui oiu...) Tell me why your entry is a slippery slope in a way that shows you understand the fallacy, adding one French word of your choice! ***go here for quick and EZ translating from English to French PLUS: an instant increase in dating activity---- http://world.altavista.com/ The three funniest or most creative bloggers will get double credit, so don't be battez! ("Whack" in French)---Sincèrement, Mme. Wheeler
5 comments:
IN ADDITION to the skillful application of a slippery slope, Monsieur Jeff P has artfully demonstrated yet another fallacy for us today: The oh so battez Begging the Question, popular in Northern France with brie and es cargot. Oui oui..Claim: You will never go blind from sitting too close to the tv, says Mr ""shared values"" (data) Because tv does not cause blindness...see how the reasoning is circular? The data is the claim and vice versa...That, my brilliant and oh-so hip students, is begging the question, like a dog chasing it's tail in a circle, or as we say in Paris, a chien chassant sa queue en cercle!
Nice photo Monica!
Scott--Touche! I read that bear commercial as a deeper nihilistic interrogation of the endangered species act reflecting a postmodern problemetization of jouissance, but whatever, dude --the groin thing works too...
Korrie---a touching story, I was moved...
and Recka...I have to ask, "what about the deeper problem in American youth culture: smoking pickles?"
I think that although all of these are fallacies, the overall point is that nothing is good for you in excess and who can argue that this is a fallacy ? Though my mother also said every line in the book to prevent me from too many french fries or staring at the TV, I think the point was to promote moderation. If anyone knows that super-controlled child or the person who was raised by acid-tripping parents, they probably know that both extremes lead to problems. My question, therefore, is what about these so-called fallacies we talk about are true ? Do they have some underlying wisdom ? Oh, and Sandra wants me to post the link to my class blog: www.saysmidoriandmiyagi.blogspot.com.
Feel free to leave ideas for future entries.
My slippery slope: "Don't gamble because you will never want to quit until you lose all of your money. Then you will be in debt trying to get your money back and end up as a bum on the street begging for change."
This is a fallacy because most people wouldn't gamble to that extreme. I agree with Eva about the "moderation fix". As long as you do these bad things in moderation, there won't be a snowball effect.
My slippery slope is "don't talk to strangers or else they'll kidnap you." I remember hearing something along those lines when I was younger. I've talked to many strangers and most have become friends, close friends, or good acquaintances. I don't think any of them have even contemplated kidnapping me, but I wouldn't know. It hasn't happened and I doubt it would. Quoi que.
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