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Category: Logical Fallacy

Bernie Sanders is not a millionaire?

Bernie Sanders is not a millionaire?

TL; DR Summary A shared social media poster asserts that Bernie Sanders would have been the first president who wasn’t  a millionaire, since 1945. On the surface, this statement sounds plausible. His Senate disclosure forms list less than $1 million in assets. But it leaves out the value of his retirement savings and his government provided pension. A private sector worker would need at least $1 million in assets to have a pension payout similar to what Sanders will receive…

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Republican Platform seeks to sell off all Western US Federal lands

Republican Platform seeks to sell off all Western US Federal lands

TL; DR Summary The basic propaganda method used here is the strawman argument. In the strawman argument, you create a fictitious statement from your opponent (in this case by exaggerating what they said) and then argue against that fictitious statement, rather than what the opponent actually said or promoted.

“In the age of the Internet, the truth does not matter”

“In the age of the Internet, the truth does not matter”

“In the age of the internet, the truth does not matter. The message you want to propagate can be told, and it will spread like wildfire. And spread it did.” Propaganda spreads faster than wildfire on social media, often torching everything in its path. The marriage of social media and propaganda is extraordinarily dangerous if you think about how Internet mobs convict people, groups, ideas – in a matter of hours – in the absence of a full set of…

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How to use charts for misleading propaganda!

How to use charts for misleading propaganda!

This chart appeared on a blog post saying auto sales are “down again” and this should worry us about a recession.  See that blue arrow at the right? Looks horrible!!!! But this chart design is a real mess. First, the blue arrow anchors our view on the blue line and its downturn at the right. But the real chart is the harder to see gray column chart. Column charts are a *terrible* way to show a trend – line charts…

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Unknown conservative group creates fake poster to spread untrue meme

Unknown conservative group creates fake poster to spread untrue meme

TL;DR Summary Photo allegedly shows injuries to a female Trump supporter after violent protests against Trump at a Trump campaign rally. The photo is actually a test photo of an actress, after injury makeup was applied, as part of a movie production. The photo has nothing to do with a Trump rally. The photo was distributed by a small Facebook page called “Conservative Nation” (the post has apparently been removed) and was then shared thousands of time online.   Photos are “re-purposed”…

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Scott Adams (“Dilbert”) thinks Donald Trump is a master propagandist

Scott Adams (“Dilbert”) thinks Donald Trump is a master propagandist

I have no idea if Trump is a master propagandist but Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams thinks Trump is highly effective at using the methods of persuasion. Propaganda is a set of methods for persuading others to adopt an action (in this case, vote for Trump): SCOTT ADAMS: I’ve been studying persuasion for decades and when I saw Trump last summer displaying the tools of persuasion I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s not a crazy clown. Everything he’s doing, including his…

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#OccupyDemocrats is giving propaganda a bad name

#OccupyDemocrats is giving propaganda a bad name

TL;DR Summary Occupy Democrats makes an assertion that is easily proven wrong. The link between the bridge collapse and the real world events is a logical fallacy. This is the same format as last year’s false claim about an overpass collapse (Read that link – its unbelievable). What actually caused this collapse? A truck crashed in to the bridge, causing the collapse. “Officials say the collapse of the bridge was not a design or maintenance-related issue.” But, alluding to last year’s false poster…

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Logical fallacy: Linking a $15 minimum wage in 2022 to unemployment in 2015

Logical fallacy: Linking a $15 minimum wage in 2022 to unemployment in 2015

TL; DR Summary Occupy Democrats issued propaganda posters in 2015 proclaiming that in spite of a $15 minimum wage, Seattle’s unemployment has gone down and restaurants are booming, But the $15 wage does not take effect until 3 to 7 years into the future. This linkage is a logical fallacy.                 Poster 2 Source: Occupy Democrats.  Shared over 28,000 times. There is no connection between a $15 minimum wage and Seattle restaurants or unemployment in 2015…

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