What’s up peeps! Let’s start today’s episode with another review. You know why I review? B/c repetition helps us learn! And I really want you to learn these fallacies!
So, our quick review is of the Special Pleading fallacy. Special Pleading is when someone tries to claim to be an exception to the rule that they expect to be applied to everyone else. It’s saying “that rule doesn’t apply to me…I am the exception.”
Question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing the Special Pleading fallacy: “Is it really true that the rules should be different for this person or group? Or is this distracting us from the issue at hand?”
If you want to hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 10.
Ok, the new fallacy we’re going to talk about today is called Equivocation. Equivocation happens when someone changes the definition of a word in the middle of a conversation or an argument.
It’s silly, but equivocation almost always comes up when someone from the US travels to a country where they drive on the left side of the road. There’s always some kind of joke that driving on the right side of the road is the “right” way to drive, and that Great Britains and Australians are therefore driving on the “wrong” side of the road. In this example, the word “right” is being used to mean both “the opposite of left” and “incorrect”.
The Equivocation fallacy is based on assumption…assumption that both parties are using the same definition for a particular word. Any word that has more than one meaning can be used in an equivocation. A lot of puns and jokes are based off of Equivocation, and they can be quite clever or funny.
For example, Equivocation is the sign on the side of the road that says, “If you’ve been waiting for a sign to stop smoking, this is it!” They’re using the word sign to mean “a billboard with words announcing something” and also to mean “an omen that confirms something”.
In examples like these, equivocations are funny & clever.
But Assumptions can also be dangerous in conversations…they can cause confusion, misunderstandings and hurt feelings when the two people aren’t actually using the same definitions!
Here’s another example, and I’m just going to warn you…this example could be triggering, so be sure to check in with yourself and not let yourself get caught up in emotionalism, but to just see the fallacy for what it is. Ok? Ok. I’ve seen this example of equivocation happen in my lifetime with the word “racism”. My daughter is in 9th grade right now and in school, she recently read Martin Luther King Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech…the whole thing, exactly as he gave it.
One of the most famous speeches in American History, and definitely in the civil rights movement. In his speech, he essentially defines racism as someone judging another person by the color of their skin…and he talks of the day when he hoped that wouldn’t happen anymore, that people would instead be judged by the content of their character, right?
It’s an incredible speech, and what’s fascinating & makes it even more amazing is that he really had only prepared the first part of it…much of that famous speech was impromptu! So, for a long time, that was the definition of racism. Well, in more recent years, the definition of racism has started to change.
Now, it’s considered racist if someone DOESN’T pay attention to the color of a person’s skin & DOESN’T treat them a certain way because of the color of their skin. Fascinating, huh? But that’s equivocation and as I’ve watched the conversations about race happen in recent years, I’ve realized that this equivocation of the word “racism” has caused a lot of hurt, miscommunication, frustration & division.
So, here’s a question to ask yourself if you think you may be facing equivocation: “Is that really what that word means or are we using different definitions?” *repeat*
Tune in for the next episode where we’ll be talking about the Loaded Question fallacy.
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
