Creative Synthesis: Keyboard Warriors and Internet Fallacies
For my third blog post, I will compile and give a few examples of fallacies that I have seen and encountered during my time as a social media user. There may or may not be screenshots of anonymous private messages here that I had with others. Just a disclaimer, some of these may be insulting to others as we all have different opinions, and beliefs. There might also be examples here that are too stupid for one to handle. Again, these are fallacies, and I am just citing examples.#1: Red Herring
This is an example of a Red Herring Fallacy, because she did not answer the important questions I asked. Instead, she focused on a minor thing I included in my questions. She also did not understand what I meant by my words. Thus, making the conversation even more meaningless. It ended without my questions answered.
#2. It doesn't follow
The above tweet is an example of a fallacy that doesn't follow. The reason being is that, the name of another mayor was never brought up in the first place, or that mayor's actions. It has nothing to do with how Pasig mayor Vico Sotto is doing his job.
#3. Against the Person
This is an example of a fallacy that is Against the Person, because the twitter user attacked Manny Pacquiao and refused to rejoice in his success in defeating his opponent in a recent boxing match just because of the fact that Manny is not a very great country leader. She chooses to treat Manny Pacquiao based on his leadership skills and opinions as a senator, and completely ignoring the fact that he is the country's pride in boxing, which was the main topic in the first place.
#4. Appeal to the People
This screenshot of Andrea Brilliantes's Instagram post is an example of a fallacy that appeals to the people because she endorses a product as someone who is famous and appeals to most of the population. With her endorsing this product, many people will be engaged to also buy the product endorsed, because many people look up to Andrea as an influencer.
#5. Appeal to the Authority
This is an example of a fallacy that appeals to the authority because Psychology, as a very specialized and authorized subject basing on facts, is used as something that supports this statement. There is no official proof as to this being proven. It may be acknowledged by many because of experiences and it is reality, but it was never based on the teachings of Psychology.
1. What are the common characteristics of the social media posts you have chosen?
Answer: The common characteristic that they have is of course, the fallacy that their claims carry. Their statements aren't based on pure truth, and it cannot be said that their statements are purely false either.What they really have in common is that they can appeal to the audience that sees their content that they have put out there on social media for everyone to see.
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media to express personal opinion, perspective, or even posting personal takes about your life?
Answer: As someone who uses social media a lot for the reasons stated, I have gotten my fair share of experiences of those advantages and disadvantages. A good thing this brings is that we are able to freely express ourselves with its use, that there are actually platforms wherein we can say anything without having to worry about what others personally think. A counterpart to this advantage is that people who may not agree will tend to attack you for posting it. Also, by seeing what others are posting out there can make us see things in different perspectives. We are able to see the whole picture of something because different opinions and beliefs will be seen commenting on posts.
3. How can you become a responsible social media user through philosophical reasoning?
Answer: I think it is to carefully think about whatever you decide to put out there first before actually getting it out there. There's no other way but to think about things thoroughly first-- if it will offend others, or most importantly, if it makes any sense that others will agree with you. Being a responsible user is to stop being stupid.
4. What advice can you give many "Keyboard Warriors" in the internet on responsible use of social media?
Answer: Then again, (I cannot stress this enough) we should thoroughly think about everything first before posting anything. We should, at most, try to see all situations in every possible perspective and not just ours. Most importantly, we should always set our feelings aside whenever we face issues in social media, because our emotions play very important roles in what we put online for everyone to see. By doing these simple things, and to keep it as a practice, everyone will be more responsible social media users, and display a better image for the audience that sees them.
