Dirty up Your Mouth

The purpose of an advertisement is to persuade an audience to purchase the product. However, some advertisements take it to the next level and create logical fallacies to make sure their product goes from the shelf into the consumers’ hands. This type of commercial falls under the category of false advertising where they use misleading visuals and information to persuade the consumer even more. Orbit gum is one product that has many commercials which create logical fallacies each and every time. For example, in this commercial the advertisement makes a logical appeal that is non-sequiter and that creates equivocation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw03nalTAMQ&feature=related

When the commercial begins the woman checks her purse for her pack of Orbit gum and notices that the pack is empty. The woman then begins a process of actions to dirty up her mouth by even going as far as to dump a potted plant on her face. This is where the logical fallacies begin by using a non-sequitor series of events. When the magic Orbit lady appears another logical fallacy occurs. This is an example of equivocation because it is a lie that is dressed up to look like the truth. Finally the commercial ends with a false claim when the Orbit lady says that this gum with clean up your mouth, no matter what.

The non-sequitor series of events starts with the woman continuously dirtying up her mouth many different ways. By dirtying up her mouth she knows the magical Orbit lady will appear with a pack of gum so her mouth can be fresh again. These events do not logically make sense.  When the Orbit lady appears the equivocation occurs, this is a lie dressed up as the truth. If someone were to dump a potted plant on their face to dirty up their mouth it is not only non-sequitor but not true that the magical Orbit lady will appear. As the commercial ends, the final logical fallacy occurs when the Orbit lady makes the false claim. Clearly not in every situation, much less this woman’s situation, will one single stick of gum clean someone’s mouth up that well.

These logical fallacies are put into this commercial to try and persuade consumers to purchase Orbit gum. These are over exaggerated examples of what this product could potentially do for a customer. I’m sure the producer’s mindset was not to include these specific events to try and convince the consumer that orbit gum will instantly whiten dirt-filled teeth, however it still creates a logical fallacy. Because of these exaggerated events, I am not tempted to go out and buy a pack of Orbit gum. Although, it is a conversation starter and this commercial is one that will be talked about and remembered the next time you are out searching for that perfect pack of gum. 

Madison is not an unabashed haven for white supremacy

http://badgerherald.com/oped/2008/09/10/madison_unabashed_ha.php (archive of article published in the Badger Herald, 09/10/2008).

The above article ran in the Badger Herald, which for folks that don't know is a well established student run paper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the article, the author, Kyle Szarzynski, accuses Madison of being an unabashed haven for white supremacy in a variety of ways. While he does make a few valid points in the piece, there were quite a number of logical fallacies in his argument that I did not agree with, and quite frankly as a proud citizen of this city for the past seven years got me 'fired up'.

The first thing that I believe to be a fallacy is his statement that 'white supremacy has become so ubiquitous that it now seems to dwell comfortably in every alleyway and street corner'(in Madison, WI). Now Kyle states that Madison is his adopted home and he has only been living here for a little over 3 years. If that is the case I find it very hard to believe that Kyle would have learned enough about the city as a whole (many neighborhoods are distinctly different) to classify it in such a homogeneous way. I might also point out that when the KKK staged a rally in downtown Madison several years ago that they had to have police protection during the entirety of the rally, there was a humongous protest against the hate group far outnumbering the rally itself, and they were essentially run out of this town on a rail. That does not sound like something that would happen in a city that embraced white supremacy as fully as Mr. Szarzynski describes. Finally, there are neighborhoods in Madison that do not even have a majority white population, so it would be impossible for white supremacy to dwell comfortably there.

The next fallacy that I found in his argument was when he described the issue of crime as 'among the weirdest and most common of Madison obsessions'. While he does make a good point that this city is among the safest of its size in the country, the fact remains that there is a substantial amount of crime in this city, both in the downtown district surrounding the university and elsewhere. For someone moving here from a small town with maybe a few robberies a year, Madison can seem pretty scary. The author states that 'fear of crime has been inseparable from fear of racial minorities.' I have never been a victim of crime in this city during my 7+ years here aside from petty theft of a camera, but I have had multiple friends that were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got robbed or were attacked simply for the color of their skin-- ironically enough they were white. It is also a fact that overall crime levels in Madison continue to rise. Granted some of that is due to an influx of new residents as Madison shows continued growth, but it is definitely something worth keeping an eye out for, not a 'weird obsession'. I do not see any evidence(nor does the author provide any evidence) that this fear is racially motivated. People want to live their lives in peace, and that seems like a reasonable desire.

Finally, Mr. Szarzynski states his opinion that 'there are many who actually do believe that crime is out of control, illegal immigration is a scourge against our great land and a minor crime of a student official is an important enough topic about which to pen an editorial. This does not change the fact that the underlying impulse that forces these issues to the surface is racial, and that an elimination of racism would mute such issues as crime and immigration.' He provides no evidence to back this claim up, and without any evidence he really does not have much of an argument. I could put in my 2 cents on these issues but I believe I have made my point which is that the author's argument is riddled with fallacies and that these logical fallacies do not allow the argument to be successfully presented.

9/11 fallout (words)

9/11 is an event that has shaped the history and the rhetoric of the United States forever. The date itself is a memorial for the terrifying words, expressions, and emotions people heard that day. The date will never pass unnoticed again. Classrooms, offices, public transportation, and peoples’ minds will be buzzing with those three numbers for years when it is once again September 11 years from now.
Where were you when it happened? What were you doing? How did people react?
Everyone has their story and the details haunt political, social, and economic rhetoric today. The most powerful aspect of that day which will stay with me for years was the words people said in lieu of the attack. Particularly the words G.W. Bush chose as he attempted to reassure a panicked nation. By carefully crafting his speeches in order to appeal to the terrified American public, he chose simple, strong words which appeal and are understood by everyone:
“hunt down and punish”
“national security”
“faceless coward…freedom will be defended”
Although these terms were eloquently presented and the rhetorical appeal of “Homeland Security” was a strong one, it wasn’t what he had promised. Many peoples’ privacy was invaded and his rhetoric wasn’t carried out. As Benjamin Franklin beautifully put it: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I believe Mr. Franklin’s rhetoric more clearly conveys the realities of Bush’s post-9/11 rhetoric. While Bush verbally promised to protect and defend the nation from another, similar attack, he essentially used his power to spend loads of money on defeating “enemies”/”terrorists(???)” and, what I would consider, borrowing citizens’ liberty to mislead them into believing that they were [temporarily] protected when he instated Homeland Security.
Back to the subject…
The vast majority of the world’s people were on America’s side when 9/11 happened. The terrorist attack seeped its way into conversations world-wide. People of different ethnicities, race, culture, language and tradition remember where they were and what they were doing when the towers fell. After 9/11, a new topic of conversation was created. News castors, talk show hosts on the radio and TV, and everyday citizens of the world refer to 9/11 as a turning point in world history. It was when the world lost security. Teachers use 9/11 as an example in classrooms. Often, we hear pre-9/11 and post-9/11 as a rhetorical way of situating events in time.
9/11 is here to stay. It has and will continue to teach lessons and the rhetorical tools that when along with the events of that day are dated and will be recognized by the generations that experienced the tragedy.

tribute

September 11, 2001 is a date that will live in infamy, a single date that cuts to the core of human emotion. In its wake many things have changed, including airport security and the inception of The Department of Homeland Security. Although these two refined our national security, 9/11’s impact is better portrayed through words like terrorist, hijacker, ground zero and the way they make us feel.

It is easy to understand why this topic is so sensitive under any public forum. Beyond the unimaginable horror thousands of people and families felt who were directly effected, every American was tied to those towers. Everyone that said, published or produced something about the day took extra precaution not to say something that may offend the American public. Television shows that depicted the twin towers, post 9/11, did not want to air shots of the phantom structures. Documentaries and movies followed a couple years latter, none of which passed the threshold to offend anyone.

It has been 7 years since the towers fell and the words still send the same chilling image to my brain. Words that breed fear, shock, anger, bewilderment and sorrow. Fortunately, there are other words that are tied to the memory of the fallen buildings. Hope, perseverance, unity and patriotism speak to the other side of the 9/11 spectrum. Today, we look to these words to inspire, to find light in the dark. We will never forget, or change how we feel about that dreadful day in September. I will never forget how it changed the world.

“Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew. “
- President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001