Hey what’s up guys! Kathy Gibbens here! Welcome back.
I was recently asked to speak at a homeschool conference here where I live, which I am thrilled to be doing. So today, I was doing some preparation for my talk, which is going to be based on this podcast, by the way! And it got me thinking about WHY people listen to this podcast…like, what’s the deeper reason behind it. Sure, it’s fun to learn about the logical fallacies and kind of play the game of trying to spot them, but what’s the deeper reason? What’s the emotional reason behind that? And, by the way, I’d love to know what your reasons are for listening - if you would feel comfortable telling me, it would be super helpful! Just find me on instagram or send me an email.
But I think one of the deeper reasons has to do with preparation. We have all just lived through two traumatic years where the bad thinking, the online arguments, and the emotional headlines were coming at us fast & furious. And I would venture to say those things are still coming at us, just as fast and just as furious. WE NEED TO KNOW HOW TO LIVE IN A WORLD FULL OF FALLACIES, LIES & MANIPULATION. Full stop. And our kids need to be prepared to live well in a world full of fallacies, lies & manipulation. And it’s something that’s on my mind a lot. I want to prepare myself and our daughter for the world she’s going to be living in, and this is just one of the things we’re doing to prepare her: teaching her how to think!
And the beautiful part of it is that we’re learning to think better along the way, too! Win-win. So, again, I’m so glad you’re here. This is such an important skill, I’m going to ask you if you would just take like 5 seconds and share the podcast with a friend? Just take a minute and hit the share button wherever you’re listening b/c, guys, we’ve got to get more people who know HOW to think in this world! *whew* ok, I just had to say that…let’s get on to today’s fallacy!
Today’s new fallacy is a fun one! I actually learned about this one while I was researching the Ambiguity Fallacy from yesterday. I hadn’t planned on doing an episode on this fallacy, but I thought it was super interesting that there was a name to this thing that we all do, so I decided to make a short episode about it.
Today’s fallacy is called the Fallacy of Accent. The Fallacy of Accent happens when you change the meaning of a phrase or sentence by placing the accent on a certain word in the sentence. If you were to see that same sentence written on a page, you wouldn’t know where the emphasis or the accent is meant to go. But when you read it, you can place emphasis on almost any word in the sentence to create a totally different meaning!
Here’s a quick example. Your Mom asks, “did you leave that dirty sock on the living room floor?” and you could answer, “I didn’t leave that sock on the living room floor.” which implies someone else left it there, or you could answer “I didn’t leave that sock on the living room floor.” which implies you left another sock on the floor. So just by changing the emphasis to a different word, you changed the meaning of the whole sentence.
And that’s exactly the problem with this fallacy: someone can change the meaning of a sentence by simply placing the accent on a different word! Imagine a murder trial where the detective who took your statement got up to testify. You had originally said, “What are you accusing me of? I shot the sheriff?” but he reads it as if what you said was, “What are you accusing me of? I shot the sheriff.” Those are two very different testimonies!
Here’s another example of how one simple sentence can be interpreted many different ways depending on where the emphasis is placed:
I didn't mow the yard yesterday. (Somebody else did.)
I didn't mow the yard yesterday. (I did not mow it.)
I didn't mow the yard yesterday. (I did something else to it.)
I didn't mow the yard yesterday. (I mowed some other yard.)
I didn't mow the yard yesterday. (I mowed something else entirely.)
I didn't mow the yard yesterday. (I mowed it some other day.)
I’m telling you….this is why it’s very easy to have miscommunication and misunderstandings over text and on social media. When you’re reading a sentence, you can’t really know which the author intended to emphasize. You may place the emphasis on a different word and come up with a very different meaning and the argument begins. When in doubt, ALWAYS ask for clarification before just making an assumption!
Question to ask yourself: “What was the original premise or intention of the statement?” *repeat*
Alright, join me next time when we’ll be talking about the Burden of Proof Fallacy, and
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?”
