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Let's all brush up on our critical thinking skills!
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Lately, this has been driving me nuts. We don't all have the same opportunities for education, nor do we have the same backgrounds but we can all make an effort to improve the quality of our comments and arguments (not in the bickering sense) by referring back to some trusty critical thinking skills.
Here are just a few of the nonsensical, circular logical tendencies I see on a regular basis here:
The straw man:
When you create an argument that doesn't exist as a way to shutdown someone'a comment.
Ex:
Commenter A: "I think a preop diet plan should be treated as a prescription by the patient, not as a suggestion."
Commenter B: "Well, if you think everything a doctor says is always right, my mother got really sick by taking a prescription drug that her doctor gave her!"
See the problem? Commenter A never suggested that everything a doctor says is right. The comment was simply stating as far as preop diets go, it isn't a suggestion but rather "doctor's orders".
Ad Hominen:
In this fallacy, you attack a person instead of their argument.
Commenter A: "I think a preop diet plan should be treated as a prescription from your doctor, and not just as a suggestion."
Commenter B: "Come on down off of your high horse and stop being so condescending! We're all here to support each other and your arrogant attitude isn't helping anyone!"
See the problem? Name calling doesn't actually address the perceived problem with the argument. Not liking someone doesn't mean they are wrong, and it's a logical fallacy to let your personal feelings about a person cloud your judgment on their opinions.
False Dichotomy:
This fallacy misconstrues an argument by setting up an either/or scenario when there are multiple options available.
Commenter A: "I plan to follow my doctor's post op plan, because he knows better than I do about how this whole process works."
Commenter B: "it's not like you'll die if you don't follow the doctor's advice exactly as written!"
See the problem? Commenter A never suggested that the only possible outcomes were living or dying. There are a multitude of possible effects, including none whatsoever, that could result from not following the doctor's plans.
Ad Populum:
In this fallacy, you assume that because many people believe or do something, therefore it is safe.
Commenter A: "I plan to follow my surgeon's plans, because there are lots of problems that could arise if I don't."
Commenter B: "Basically no one is perfect, okay? We all cheated at some point either preop or postop and hardly anyone has serious complications from it. It's no big deal!"
See the problem? Just because many people believe that cheating has little or no ramifications, does not make it so. We are only a small sample of people who have had WLS, so our forum's results are already skewed. I don't know any astronauts, that doesn't mean they don't exist.
The Appeal to Authority:
Here, we assume that because someone with authority makes an argument, it is somehow correct.
Commenter A: "I plan to follow my doctor's advice on not exercising for 8 weeks post op, because of all the problems it could create while I am healing."
Commenter B: "Yeah, well I've been doing this much longer than you and I was fine excercising right after surgery. You need to be increasing physical activity as soon as possible, trust me - I would know."
See the problem? Commenter B never addressed the possible issues that could arise from exercise, but simply stated that since s/he has more experience with WLS, his/her opinion is correct.
There are dozens and dozens more of these, but this is pretty basic stuff we learned in high school. Your mileage may vary, but now you know.
Now go forth and let's all try to make sense when we disagree with other people!