APEnglish–Los Al

Period 4

§         We got a diction worksheet which had an excerpt from “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” by Annie Dillard, who always writes about nature

§         Enthymeme: a syllogism where a premise or conclusion has been excluded

o We often enter an argument with prejudices (which can be strongly held beliefs) and prefer it when the argument confirms our prejudice
o Dillon brought up the issue of satire and asked a question that went over my head, but it led to a discussion about Stephen Colbert, a comedian who acts ridiculously conservative in order to satirize conservatives like Bill O’Reily. However, if you share the prejudices Colbert are satirizing, you might believe he’s actually telling the truth. Like that one guy did (White House Correspondent’s Dinner 2006. Youtube it.)

§         Fallacies of Reasoning

o hasty generalization: basing assumptions off of an inadequate sample
o missing the point: arguing your conclusion
o post hoc (false cause): Means “after this, therefore because of this.” When one assumes that things that occur after an event occurs because of that event.
o slippery slope: argues for a chain reaction
o weak analogy: self-explanatory (hopefully)
o appeal to authority: referring to someone or something that must be true
o ad populum (“to the people”): everyone does it, so you should to
o ad hominem and tu quoque: attacks a person, not an argument
o appeal to ignorance: if something has not happened, the opposite must be true
o straw man: attacks a watered down version of an opponent’s argument before the opponent presents his or her argument
o red herring: going off tangent of an argument, distracting the audience
o false dichotomy: you must choose A or B, one extreme or the other
o begging the question: asks you to accept an argument without any evidence and depends on a premise similar to the conclusion

§         We then applied what we learned by reading an article criticizing critics of pornography and feminists, and identifying the fallacies of reasoning contained within the article.

HOMEWORK:

Remember to sign up for AP tests!!

Read Freakonomics/Fast Food Nation/Nickels and Dimed

Period 5

Hey Girl Hey

So, today’s class was a little interesting. Mr. Eldridge opened the class discussion buy asking us what were “Things that people assume everyone knows, cause they’re already proven.” Some answers flew out as stereotypes, Zach Glasser shot back with “Postulates” but the true answer was “Prejudice” as Eldridge announced. Rachel, sitting next to Callie and I, no more then 6 feet away from Mr. E, hollered “I said PREJIDUCE like 6 TIMES!” Eldridge shot back that he unfortunately couldn’t hear her and that she should speak up more often leading into a tangent discussion on how Alex Dessouky never speaks quietly then going to how all men never can talk in an “inside-voice” do to there pitch of tone (how low their voice is) for lower pitch travels farther then higher; coming to the drawn out point that all women should speek louder because having a higher pitched voice, their sound does not travel as far. (My oppinion Rachel, you should just yell I guess from now on haha).

The conversation then got turned to the topic of REFORM and how it is very painful to change. Soon the subject pushed onto how people like to blame anyone but themselves for why bad things happen in their own lives or the public as the whole discussing how we haven’t been in this much debt to income sense the Great Depression.

We then were supposed to get out our BLUE syllogism/enthymemes packet but before we could focus on our packetwork, we began to discuss studies and how if people are interested with them they should loook into them to prove their truth. We then reached the topic of smoking campaigns and how they bring up statistics in their propaganda. Someone stated that they heard that thos propoganda suggesting not to smoke only adds to the people beginning to light up. Eldridge obliged saying that that lay true with the teenage population for we tend to “defy authority”. Dessouky then said “YES!” which left people pondering about why he was so in agreement to Eldridge’s statement. (You go Dessouky! haha). Alex then brought up a study he heard about that “80% of people in the US have smoked weed.” which Jay Lee then claimed to be very truthful leading to the classes laughter, along with Mr. E. Although Dessouky may have heard “80% of the population” Zach Glasser then stated he believed it to be 40% (I’m sorry Alex, but if Glasser is saying otherwise I’m gonna lead towards him….I mean, it’s Zach Glasser: if he says it’s true…ITS TRUE hah *nurrrrrr). Eldridge then brought up the point of pot being semi-legal leading to some students wondering what “semi-legal” means. I then explained that people can get weed prescribed to them for many reasons such as sleeping trouble (insomnia) and they can go to a weed “clinic” and retrieve their legal weed. Alex then stated that he “heard” a story of someone getting pulled over and receiving a ticket even though he had a prescription for pot….(we kinda diverted discussing his story any farther and moved onto falicies) haha

We pretty much discussed most of the fallacies in the packet that’s been laying on our tables for the past 2 days.

Hasty Generalization
Missing the Point
Post hoc (aka false cause)
Slippery Slope
Weak Analogy- “Don’t be guilty of a weak analogy” – Eldridge
Appeal to Authority
Ad populum
Ad hominem & tu quoque
Appeal to Pity
Appeal to Ignorance
Straw Man- (Wizard of Oz?….Callie Aaker?.. haha)
Red Herring
False Dichotomy
Begging the Question
Equivocation

We then got a 2 page handout which wasn’t stapled together (”evil secretaries!”-Eldridge) and Mr. E then read an argument about porn, prostitutes, pleasure, and Playboy on the projector showing us all the possible writing faux pas you could possibly commit.

The bell then rang and we ran screaming from the room to our next class, sport, or like me, home haha.

By the way, Hope ya like that Cherry Garcia Ben and Jerry’s Mr. E.

ALEX DESSOUKY”S FOURTUNE FROM PANDA
“You are a fun-loving person and will find much happiness”

Yours truly,
Barbie

***Mr. E. I couldn’t go to Norstrom this week. My dad is cooking all the food for our huge choir competition we host this weekend and my mom said I needed to stay home and help. I’m sorry. I hope ya still love me!***

Make sure your next day is GREAT! Wake up and recite the words “Chettoh, Macaw, Pudding!” It’s a garanteed way to start your day off, well, great!

-Ellen Degeneres

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