Here’s an example of a nasty trick used AGAIN and AGAIN in mainstream arguments by those attempting to justify their own (or somebody or something they are supporting’s) poor actions, poor storytelling, and any other poor use of logic—the appeal to hypocrisy logical fallacy. As a reminder, a logical fallacy is a deceptive use of logic that substitutes a deceptive argument in place of logic, as the word “fallacy” comes from the Latin root “fallere“, which means “to deceive“. In this case, appealing to a supposedly hypocritical action in the past by another now justifies the use of the poor action, poor storytelling, or poor use of logic in the present, making it magically okay to use from now on; AKA, you [supposedly] did it wrong this way one time, therefore it is now fine for me to do it wrong this way this time, and as many times as I like, from now on. Essentially, they’re saying “it is logical because you did it first.”
In many cases, such as the appeal to hypocrisy argument being addressed in the video below, it is an apples to oranges example of the original’s supposedly poor usage because many other factors differentiate the two primary examples, which is another logical fallacy called the “false equivalence fallacy”, because the first example is not necessarily equivalent to the modern example. Comparing a video game where the powers of the main characters are not considered canon and are typically over powered anyways, with a television show where things are considered canon and typically more balanced and logical, is one primary difference, while it is also a false equivalence because many Star Wars fans, myself included, never played the game in the first place, and probably would have had a problem with it there too (blowing it off as just a video game).
Lastly, in the instance in the video below, the appeal to hypocrisy and false equivalence fallacies are joined by the ad hominem fallacy, which is a personal attack on any fan who might call out the original poor actions, poor storytelling, or poor use of logic accusing them of having a double standard due to the sex of the two characters in question, and labeling them as misogynists, because the fans were supposedly fine with the poor storytelling when it was a male character, just not when it is a female character. This is obviously an untenable assumption on the motivation of countless fans that any person with the valuable intellectual character trait of humility would be unable to make, because it is impossible to know/assume the core reasoning of just one person without really digging into their argument to better understand their viewpoint, much less lumping all detractors’ motivations together, so this is just another nasty trick employed by the one(s) using the current trio of logical fallacies and making the accusation. Ridicule (the ad hominem fallacy) is a primary tactic of predatory sophist types seeking to gain power over others, as Saul Alinsky (the mentor to Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama) pointed out:
“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.” ~Saul Alinsky, “Rules for Radicals”
Learning how to calmly navigate accusations and fallacies that are intended to push our buttons and gain our consent (concessions) for their agendas, and doing so in an emotionally neutral way, will essentially make these tactics useless. This is where learning emotional processing, and doing inner child / shadow work, comes into play, as it helps us to close up our emotional susceptibilities to manipulative people and their tactics.
THE UNITY PROCESS: I’ve created an integrative methodology called the Unity Process, which combines the philosophy of Natural Law, the Trivium Method, Socratic Questioning, Jungian shadow work, and Meridian Tapping—into an easy to use system that allows people to process their emotional upsets, work through trauma, correct poor thinking, discover meaning, set healthy boundaries, refine their viewpoints, and to achieve a positive focus. You can give it a try by contacting me for a private session.
Did you enjoy the article? Show your appreciation and buy me a coffee:
Bitcoin: bc1q0dr3t3qxs70zl0y5ccz7zesdepek3hs8mq9q76
Doge: DBLkU7R4fd9VsMKimi7X8EtMnDJPUdnWrZ
XRP: r4pwVyTu2UwpcM7ZXavt98AgFXRLre52aj
MATIC: 0xEf62e7C4Eaf72504de70f28CDf43D1b382c8263F
