Fallacies in the Newspaper -- Journalism

The effective use of rhetoric can spur people into exertion for worthy causes, bring or so positive health changes, and even influence one to finish a college education. In contrast, like most things in life, what can be employ for good can also be used in a negative way to elicit emotions such(prenominal) as outrage, fear, and panic. This type of rhetoric often uses fallacious statements in an speak to to emotion which complicates the matter even more as the emotions are misdirected. Unfortunately, the fooling newspapers are filled with numerous examples of fallacious statements. Within the past week, the quest five examples appeared in the New York Times and USA Today. The examples included statements that show scapegoating, slippery slope, ad hominem, straw man, line-drawing, arguments from outrage, and arguments from envy.The first example, in an article about the current condition of income and wealth in the United States, the author utter that the fact that Americ ans are earning less and worth less than four years ago was started by the financial crisis and the sharp decline in the honor of homes, the principal asset of Americans, fol smalled by the sharp drop in the banal prices. The crisis led to stubbornly high unemployment that cut income for many Americans and made employ increases harder to obtain for those who did hold on to their jobs (Norris, 2012). The drop in housing prices is used as a scapegoating technique for the general financial condition of Americans. Scapegoating is a technique that places blame on a specific group for a certain circumstance (Moore & Parker, 2012, p. 187). By placing blame on the housing industry, Norris attempts to represent that the American public is largely experiencing financial ... ...Retrieved from New York Times http//www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/ seam/economy/as-recovery-drags-on-income-and-wealth-lag.htmlOhio State University. (2012). Statistical Summary. Retrieved from Ohio State Univers ity.edu http//www.osu.edu/osutoday/stuinfo.phpSaad, L. (2012). Pro-choice Americans at low 41%. Retrieved from Gallup Politics http//www.gallup.com/poll/154838/Pro-Choice-Americans-Record-Low.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All%20Gallup%20Headlines?utm_source= peep&utm_medium=gallupnews&utm_cSara Lee Annual Report. (2012). Sara Lee Annual Report 2011. Retrieved from Sara Lee smoke http//www.saralee.com/ourcompany/sl11ar/pdf/2011SL_Financials.pdfUSDA. (2011). Profiling food consumption in America. Retrieved from USDA.gov http//www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf