Extra Credit Fallacy

The fallacy i will be analyzing is the Geico commercial and ads. These commercials and ads try to grab customers to purchase insurance through their company, Geico. Geico does this by using the popular catch phrase, "So easy a caveman can do it". Using this line commits the fallacy of Weak Analogy.

The fallacy of Weak Analogy is committed because the commercial is trying to compare two things that are not really comparable in relevant respects. The phrase compares humans that are intelligent to cavemen who are not as intelligent. Because these two examples are not comparable the phrase commits the fallacy of Weak Analogy.

Blog 2 Ciritcal Thinking

How my own studies incorporate the idea of critical thinking based on the assignments i am given. Some examples of my usage of critical thinking in my studies are
-if i am doing a research paper i am using critical thinking to evaluate if the sources i cite are reliable and if they are accurate.
-If i am preparing for a debate then i would look at both sides of the issue so that i am able to attack my opponents.
-If i am memorizing the formulas for a math test i am practicing the analyzing part of critical thinking.

Yes i believe that more critical thinking work should be done. I believe that more critical thinking work should be done because of how it is an important skill for life. Being able to make good decisions and well thought out choices is what will get people through life's challenges.

Blog 1 Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a form of educated observation and judgment. This form of higher thinking also forces people to not be bias and also make intelligent decisions about what to believe. Critical thinking is an important skill for humans to be able to interact, make decisions, and also being aware of the world. In today's world there are so many different types of problems that it is imperative that people most have the ability to be able to analyze and make good judgments.

Letterman's Apology

I believe Letterman's apology would accomplish several things. Some of the things the apology would accomplish are self-relief, boost ratings, and re-gain the approval of viewers.

An apology from Letterman would help him in this case. The apology would help Letterman because of how the many Palin supporters wanted him fired. Some Palin supporters even sent threat letters to Letterman. Overall an apology would ease the tension between Letterman and Palin, and also re-gain the approval of viewers.

David Letterman Vs. The Palin Family

For our third assignment i decided to choose David Letterman's apology towards the Palin family. The incident happened around June of 2009 where Letterman made several jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter at a Yankees game. Unfortunately Letterman mistakenly thought the daughter at the game was 18 year old Bristol but ended up being Palin's other daughter, 14 year old Willow. After the jokes letterman was called a "child molester", "child rapist", and other foul names.

I chose Letterman's apology because of his apology style. Letterman's first TV apology was more of him trying to defend himself and not focusing on the apology aspect. All though Letterman messed up on his first apology, Letterman's second TV apology was more straight forward and sympathetic.

Letterman's First TV Apology


Letterman's Second TV Apology

Article Blog

My position on big box stores is that I am for them. I feel that big box stores are an inevitable transition that America will face at one time or another. Although I do believe that there are many problems with big box stores i strongly believe in Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism, which is the fittest survive, is what America and this world have lived by. So why stop now?

An article to help my position is an article from the National Post. The article is called "Recovery latest hurdle for Wal-Mart; Fickle Shoppers" by Denis Dyomkin. In this article Dyomkin explains how Wal-Mart will help the recovery of America's economic troubles. Dyomkin also uses many different financial experts to help back his claim. One expert, Bill Smead, quotes, "The market share that they grabbed in this consumer recession can translate into more sales growth and higher-margin product sales when consumer confidence does come back and the economy improves". Overall i will use this article to help back my position for big box stores.

The High Cost Of Low Prices Critique Blog

The film The High Cost Of Low Prices has one main goal. That goal is to exploit the truth of Wal-Mart. The main message that is being put out in this film is that Wal-Mart is bad, is a monopoly, destroys towns, takes away from tax payers, unethical, and participates in illegal activities. This message was put out clearly and emotionally. The film expresses this message by showing personal views, images, and statistics about how horrible Wal-Mart is. The film delivers main points through former Wal-Mart employees, sweatshop employees, and small town store owners which creates the film's sources reliable and believable. With all this information i was convinced with only a couple points.

The main points that i found convincing were Wal-Mart is unethical and Wal-Mart takes money away from taxpayers. Wal-Mart being unethical was convincing to me because of how the film clearly shows that Wal-Mart does support ethical morals like it should. Wal-Mart taking money away from taxpayers was convincing to me by how the film provided specific details about how Wal-Mart encourages their employees to receive health care through the government.

I did not find the other main points convincing because of how the film does not exploit any other big-box stores such as Target, K-Mart, or even Best Buy. The film touches these big-box stores only slightly. This gives the effect that Wal-Mart is becoming a monopoly. However Wal-Mart cannot become a monopoly because of those other big-box stores and also because Wal-Mart cannot sell everything.