Social Panic

After a large group of students engaged in a vulgar cheer targeted at a religion, the U of O has apologized and issued the usual “Begging the Question” fallacy statement. A lot more background and examples on the Begging the Question fallacy. After demonstrating who they are, they now say this is not who they are: But we take great pride in creating a welcoming, respectful place, workplace environment for everybody. Unfortunately a few individuals decided to chant some offensive…

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Police shove an elderly, 75 year old man, causing a serious head and brain injury. They walk right past his unconscious body. Then they lie about it. And afterwards the city proclaims this “doesn’t reflect the true character of the Buffalo PD” when, in fact, it is exactly their true character. This is known as the “Begging the question fallacy”.

After firing employees for doing good deeds, the CEO of US Bank asserts “this is not who we are”. This is known as the “begging the question” fallacy, which is to assert that something is true, in spite of actual events, and assert everyone agrees with this. This method is extremely common in corporate and government propaganda efforts.

Previously I wrote about the “Begging the Question” fallacy (and another example here). Immediately after an event, say a mass shooting, a city Mayor says “this is not who we are… after actual events just showed that this is precisely who they are. Source: Begging the Question Fallacy: “This is not who we are” … once again | SocialPanic.org – Occupy Propaganda Predictably, after 70 people were shot in Chicago this past weekend, confirming the cities long time reputation for…

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Previously I wrote about the “Begging the Question” fallacy (and another example here). Immediately after an event, say a mass shooting, a city Mayor says “this is not who we are” – we live in a safe community. But empirically, based on what just happened, they are not a safe community. These scenarios play out frequently – and the response “this is not who we are” is a staple of public relations staff, even though reality demonstrated that this is…

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The very first passenger train with paying customers crashed on a brand new rail line with a brand new locomotive.  A spokesperson then proceeds to tell us that the railroad is safe: “It’s important to note, this is not a comment on the safety of those tracks. We have no reason to believe those tracks are anything but safe,” WSDOT spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said. “This is a decision based on sensitivity both to the people involved in Monday’s tragic events and…

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The very first passenger train with paying customers crashed on a brand new rail line with a brand new locomotive.  A spokesperson then proceeds to tell us that the railroad is safe: “It’s important to note, this is not a comment on the safety of those tracks. We have no reason to believe those tracks are anything but safe,” WSDOT spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe said. “This is a decision based on sensitivity both to the people involved in Monday’s tragic events and…

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Just days ago I wrote about the “Begging the question” fallacy “sometimes known by its Latin name petitio principii (meaning assuming the initial point), is a logical fallacy in which the writer or speaker assumes the statement under examination to be true” (See Begging the question (fallacy) in propaganda messaging | Occupy Propaganda) I noted classic examples after well publicized corporate gaffes, such as United Airlines dragging a legitimately seated, paying customer off a flight and then issuing a statement…

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