Well, do we need to search far for examples of these? I have been guilty more than once I am sure.

[skeptic]

Top 10 Logical Fallacies in Politics (in no particular order)

1. Ignoratio elenchi = rebuttal failing to address the central argument

2. Argumentum ad hominum = attack the man not the argument

3. Straw man argument = misrepresenting opponent’s position

4. Slippery slope = if one small step is taken, it will inevitably lead to the extreme

5. Special pleading = a theory which cannot be disproved therefore is true (a South Park favorite)

6. Single cause = an intellectual shortcut

7. Appeal to motive/association = motive somehow negates truth

8. Argumentum ad populum = if the majority holds a certain belief, it must be true

9. Argumentum ad mentum = appealing to fears, insecurities, or paranoia

10. Argumentum ad nauseam = if it is repeated often enough, people will believe it (but that doesn’t make it true)

[SeattlePioneer]

ALL these seem like the ordinary meat and potatoes of political methodology and organization!

[SSScout]

And this is why Data makes a good ship's commander and why he doesn't make a good ship's commander and why some humans resent him being a ship's commander. Logic works, and folks often resent or are jealous of good logic.

[packsaddle]

Well...there's also that 'complexion' thing. I mean if you're going to 'manufacture' someone, why not make them actually 'look' like someone?

[LeCastor]

Skeptic, I can't believe you would post this! Now they're going to be talking about Commander Data all day long!

[skeptic]

Does not compute.

[NJCubScouter]

Well...there's also that 'complexion' thing. I mean if you're going to 'manufacture' someone' date=' why not make them actually 'look' like someone?[/quote']

 

If you were actually making an android with the intent that they look like a person, you probably would make them one of the colors that actual people are (including not having yellow eyes.) But if you were making a tv show in the 1980s with an android in it, you probably would want to do something to make it clear it clear that he was "not quite human." And as the series went on, and people didn't need to be reminded so much about what Data was, they gradually made him look (and act) less "different." And when Data built his own android, they made a point of having him say that her skin color was "more human in appearance" or something like that.

 

(Sorry LeCastor)

 

 

 

[st0ut717]

So say we all

[packsaddle]

I'm thinking that skin tone was something like metallic silver or perhaps isinglass or micaceous clay. Anyway, once in a while I see a person, usually but not always female, with makeup that looks like that...and applied thickly too. I sometimes dare to observe the eyes...just in case.

 

I'm guessing that makeup is an evolutionary attempt to maximize the probability of successful copulations and I guess it must work since it seems to continue as an element of primate social behavior. Same is those monster trucks I see on the road sometimes...must be compensation for something.....and it must work too.

 

Edit: That's right, LeCastor, we're incorrigible.

[LeCastor]

I'm thinking that skin tone was something like metallic silver or perhaps isinglass or micaceous clay. Anyway, once in a while I see a person, usually but not always female, with makeup that looks like that...and applied thickly too. I sometimes dare to observe the eyes...just in case.

 

I'm guessing that makeup is an evolutionary attempt to maximize the probability of successful copulations and I guess it must work since it seems to continue as an element of primate social behavior. Same is those monster trucks I see on the road sometimes...must be compensation for something.....and it must work too.

 

Edit: That's right, LeCastor, we're incorrigible.

 

 

It sounds like you might be scared, insecure, or paranoid about people with different colored eyes...or big trucks...

[SMMatthew]

As Homer Simpsons once said: "Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! Facts schmacts."

[TAHAWK]

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics"

 

The False Dichotomy. (Forcing a choice of A or B when there are many more possibilities.)

[packsaddle]

 

 

It sounds like you might be scared, insecure, or paranoid about people with different colored eyes...or big trucks...

 

As for the eyes, I find them... "Fascinating!" (yeah, I know it's the wrong character). The trucks on the other hand...for me not so much fear, more like 'horror'.

[AZMike]

 

As for the eyes, I find them... "Fascinating!" (yeah, I know it's the wrong character). The trucks on the other hand...for me not so much fear, more like 'horror'.

 

But on the other hand, that character (Spock) was originally made-up with greenish skin tone to emphasize his alien-ness. As Nimoy's character became ever more popular, they gradually toned down the green and turned-up his on-camera time.

[packsaddle]

True, So why the heck are all these characters the color of plants? Just finished snoozing through an Incredible Hulk movie (Bill Bixby) and I found myself wondering all the way through (when awake) if poor Lou was photosynthetic? Personally, if it was possible to take on some kind of endosymbiont that made us photosynthetic (like coral), that would be so way-cool I could overlook the color.

The other troubling transformation for Star Trek was the change in the appearance of the Klingons. By the time Warf arrived I had to conclude that morphological evolution was in overdrive...without any kind of refinement in attitude or even intellect ("eat any books lately?"...the best line ever by 'Q').

The other troubling thing was it seemed that all the aliens were bigger or stronger or smarter (Klingon exception) or more advanced technologically....and the Federation won anyway. You'd think we'd get our celestial butts kicked once in a while (ok, the Borg was an exception, maybe the Q continuum).

 

Edit: Incidentally I mention the above problems with the logical fallacies in mind...just to keep things on track.