Critical Thinking Exam Two Due at the start of class, Monday, March 23, 2009

Transcription

1 Critical Thinking Exam Two Due at the start of class, Monday, March 23, 2009 PART ONE Identify any rhetorical devices and/or fallacies appearing in the following passages either by naming them or, where they seem not to conform to any of the patterns described in the text, by giving a brief explanation or description of the problem. Some passages may contain more than one and some passages may contain none. Type your answers on a separate sheet of paper. (2 points each) 1. Not everyone thinks that Senator Jesse Helms is the least admired American public figure (as some opinion polls show). Even now, one or two southern Republicans lust after a Helms endorsement. 2. Early in the third phase of the Vietnam War the U.S. command recognized that the term search and destroy had unfortunately become associated with aimless searches in the jungle and the destruction of property. In April 1968 General Westmoreland therefore directed that the use of the term be discontinued. Operations thereafter were defined and discussed in basic military terms which described the type of operation, for example, reconnaissance in force. Lieutenant General John H. Hay, Jr., Vietnam Studies 3. When [Nidal] Ayyad [convicted of conspiring to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993] complained that human rights advocates had not monitored his treatment during months of detention, [U.S. District Judge Kevin T.] Duffy interjected: Did human rights organizations monitor the people whom you killed? Robert L. Jackson, in the Los Angeles Times 4. Robert may be a pretty good gardener, all right, but you ll notice he lost nearly everything to the bugs this year. 5. If we stop the shuttle program now, there are seven astronauts who will have died for nothing. An unidentified U.S. congressman, after the space shuttle disaster of January If the governor is so dedicated to civil rights, why is it that the black citizens of this state are worse off now than when he took office? 7. Chewing tobacco is not only messy, but also unhealthy (just check the latest statistics). 8. I simply won t go into those cowboy bars; they re full of guys who disguise their insecurities with cowboy boots and hats. 1

2 9. Gays in the military? Either let em in, or keep out all minorities; take your choice. I m for letting them in. The alternative is ridiculous. 10. To those who say that the analogy of Hitler is extremist and inflammatory in reference to abortion, I would contend that the comparison is legitimate.... The Supreme Court, by refusing to acknowledge their personhood, has relegated the entire class of unborn children to a subhuman legal status without protection under the law the same accorded Jews under the Third Reich. Jerry Nims, writing in the Moral Majority s Liberty Report 11. All that effort spent giving Kuwait back to the Kuwaitis was like taking a crime syndicate away from one Mafia boss and handing it to another. The Kuwaitis already own half the civilized world, and we ve put them back in the driver s seat. Their so-called justice system is handing out cruel punishments to alleged collaborators, many of whom were simply trying to stay alive during the Iraqi occupation. 12. [The CIA] instructed security forces in Uruguay, demonstrating torture techniques on beggars taken off the street. These activities, and many hundreds more like them, have been thoroughly documented by government investigations, by the press, and by the testimony of former CIA employees. Progressive Student Union 13. Miracle X-K3 battery additive extends the life of your battery up to five years. 14. Yes, of course, we must protect the rights of innocent people up to a point. The main thing is to make the streets safe again. Something must be done to reduce crime. 15. That the proposal before us is a good one is, surely, obvious. 16. People in Hegins, Pennsylvania, hold an annual pigeon shoot in order to control the pigeon population and to raise money for the town. This year, the pigeon shoot was disrupted by animal rights activists who tried to release the pigeons from their cages. I can t help but think these animal rights activists are the same people who believe in controlling the human population through the use of abortion. Yet, they recoil at a similar means of controlling pigeons. What rank hypocrisy. Rush Limbaugh 17. Listen, Higgins. I need your vote in the next department election or I may not get elected chair. Remember, if I do get elected, it will be me who decides what hours your classes meet next year. 18. It really infuriates me to see Bill Clinton talking about how cigarette smoking is a big contributor to public health costs. You want to know how much you can trust him on that subject? Well, even he himself admits to smoking cigars! 2

3 19. The administration s proposal to declare hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land as roadless areas is a huge mistake, and I m against it. The whole point of the proposal and it will succeed if the President gets his way is to lock the American people out of those areas. 20. Of course the Task Force on Crime is going to conclude that crime is on the way up. If they conclude it s on the way down, they d have to disband the task force, wouldn t they? 21. The problem isn t really with banning assault weapons; heck, I personally think it s stupid to want to own an assault weapon. The problem is that, once the government realizes that an assault weapons ban is not resulting in fewer gunshot victims, it will turn to semi-automatic weapons and require registration of them. But, of course, that won t reduce the number of victims either. We might finally get to a point where there are no more gunshot victims, but it ll only be after all guns have been banned and the ones out there now have all turned to rust. 22. You saw what the former governor of Illinois did: He declared a moratorium on executions in the state. It was a good thing, too, because it turns out that a large number of the inmates on death row had to be turned loose because DNA evidence proved them innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt. It s about time we got serious about the fact that we ve been convicting innocent people and sentencing them to death. 23. No, I do NOT believe that a murderer ought to be allowed to live. No way! Murderers have forfeited the right to live because anyone who murders another person has lost that right. 24. No, I do NOT believe that a murderer has a right to live, and here s why. The criminal justice system in this country has gotten completely out of control, what with rapists, murderers, you name it all getting off scot-free. It s got to change! 25. Letter to the editor: In rejoinder to your July 21 editorial, I certainly don t see how you can criticize the striking Springfield Unified School District teachers who carried their own signs. Let us not forget that you endorsed and supported city council members Holt and Donazetti, who not only paraded up and down Main Street with their own placards, but also got young children out of school to parade with them. North State Record 26. I know it was not very nice to overcharge them like that for the room, but all s fair in love, war, and business, my dear. Besides, if the situation were reversed and we were desperate for lodging, they would have bled us for all we re worth. 27. Overheard: When it comes to the issue of growth in this town, you re either part of the solution, or you re part of the problem. 3

4 28. This business of American car manufacturers having joint ventures with foreign car makers really stinks. Think of the consequences of not being able to buy American-made cars. No jobs for American car workers, no big cars, no ready supply of parts, no consumption of American steel. I think we should prohibit joint ventures. 29. What do I think about Scientology s belief in reincarnation? I think Scientology is run by a high school drop out who doesn t know any science at all except the science of fleecing people. 30. Yeah, sure the Los Angeles district attorney believes that O. J. Simpson got a fair trial. But before you sign on to something like that, you might notice that O. J. is a black man and that the Los Angeles district attorney is a white man. That tells you all you need to know about his opinion of fair trials. 31. It says here that smoke from wood-burning stoves, no matter how airtight they re supposed to be, gets into your house and is a health hazard. No way. We just spent close to a thousand dollars on this new stove; what you re reading can t be true. 32. Greyhound reminds you that when you travel by car, you take chances, especially if you are traveling alone. Anything can happen: dangerous thunderstorms [sound effect: thunder], engine trouble [sound of car failing to start], blowouts [tire blowing out, car screeching to a stop]. Next time [upbeat music] don t take chances. It s time to go Greyhound and leave the driving to us. Greyhound advertisement 33. I wouldn t take a course from anyone in the Poly Sci department, if I were you. They are all anti-u.s., ultraliberal types, at least that s what I hear. 34. Clearly Mexico desperately needs financial help in handling its $96 billion foreign debt, since without any aid Mexico cannot possibly reduce that enormous sum, and it is urgent that it be reduced. 35. The student status committee has presented us with an argument favoring alcohol privileges on campus. What do the students want? Is it their intention to stay boozed up from the day they enter as freshmen until the day they graduate? Do they expect us to open a bar for them? Or maybe a chain of bars all over campus? Such a proposal is ridiculous! 36. Ford Motor Company clearly produces the finest cars in the United States. We know they produce the finest cars because they have the best design engineers. The reason why they have the best design engineers is because they can afford to pay them more than other manufacturers. Obviously, they can afford to pay them more because they make the finest cars in the United States. 4

5 37. Mr. Goldberg has argued against prayer in the public schools. Obviously he advocates atheism. But atheism is what they have in Russia. Atheism leads to the suppression of all religious and the replacement of God by an omnipotent state. Is that what we want for this country? I hardly think so. Clearly, Mr. Goldberg s argument is nonsense. 38. David Duke has argued vociferously against state-supported welfare. But Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, so I guess we can take his arguments with a grain of salt. 39. No one has yet to prove that massive federal deficits and bank bailouts are actually harmful to the economy. We can only conclude that these measures undertaken by the Federal Reserve pose no real danger to the economy. 40. Of course you want to buy Crest toothpaste. Why, 90 percent of America brushes with Crest! PART TWO (20 points) (For this part of the exam, you need to access the PDF available on the class syllabus: ADL Critical Thinking Exercise) In 1994, the Anti-Defamation League, sent a letter to college presidents that included comments by Khalid Abdul Mohammad. You should review both the letter from the ADL and the comments by Khalid Abdul Mohammad and write an essay (approximately 300 words) in which you analyze and comment on the language use, paying particular attention to any rhetorical devices and any fallacies employed in both documents. 5