Mandatory seatbelt laws are fascist.
Uhm...that's great. Why is this an issue today? Did you get pulled over or something?
Actually, I thought I'd take this opportunity to use Rhetorical Friday to expand everyone's horizons. That said, since you are The Most Intelligent Readership In The World, you probably already know this, so we'll have a bit of an English refresher course today.
Today's topic: Rhetorical Fallacies.
Ooo! Edutainment! Tell us all about Rhetorical Fallacies.
While a Rhetorical Question is one designed to not really have a response, (ie: What is the sound of one hand clapping), a Rhetorical Fallacy is a statement designed to not allow a discussion, or realistically have an exchange of ideas. They are divided up into several categories, which we may well be exploring over the coming weeks...but today's is an example of an Ethical Fallacy. More specifically, a Moral Equivalence.
Moral Equivalence deals with two items, and implying an analogous relationship between them when it's clear that the two are on entirely different levels of morality. In today's example, Seatbelt Laws are at worst a minor nuisance to a single person, while fascism is an entire type of government. While some parallels do exist between the two ideas, one is far and away more substantial than the other. Yet, today's Sametime Status puts them on equal footing...this creating a Moral Equivalence.
Hope you had fun today, everybody! Enjoy the weekend!!!
3 comments:
I wonder if Benito Mussolini wore a seatbelt.
Is this kind of like proclaiming that Barack Obama is the antichrist?
Hmm... Normally, I would have simply considered such a statement to be metaphoric hyperbole (or perhaps a hyperbolic metaphor).
However, I guess if somebody is arguing that Mandatory seatbelt laws are indeed literally fascist then it could be a rhetorical fallacy. Unless of course, the laws in question include encouraging children to report on their parents, neighbors to spy on neighbors, and re-educations camps for those careless enemies of the state who dare operate without due restraint.
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