I have noticed quite often that, in discussions on such products as NAET, CieAura, LifeWave, and so on, there tends to be a whole lot of repetition. New people will show up, usually to sing the praises of whatever product that is being discussed. And almost immediately they will fall into one of about a dozen different types of bad tactics. It is as though they are given a script before signing up, and then blindly follow it from there on. And every single time, it has to be explained why their arguments just don’t work.
So to save time, I’ve gone ahead and drawn up a description of some of the more common errors that people in these discussions fall into, and why the errors are errors. Now, instead of having to write out a long reply every single time I run across such an error, I can just link to this page.
And perhaps some of these new people will take the time to read this before posting, and so will be able to avoid these errors right from the start. Perhaps. . .
Bravo! Well-written and exhaustively-researched, as usual, Acci. Seriously, I worry about you sometimes. Still, correct on all points and then some.
My personal past-time with the supporters of miracle cures and other quackery is to go through and count the logical and debate fallacies. “Hmmm,” I say, “Let’s see what we have here.. Argument from Ignorance.. Demanding Negative Proof.. Ooh.. reductio ad Hitlerum with a pre-emptive anti-Godwin.. That’s good…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies is a good reference for anyone wishing to argue on the Internet. If you can argue with someone’s position, without using *ANY* of those fallacies listed, then your position will be a very strong one.
Yeh, but I bought it and it worked!! This forum is so closed minded, you all think conventional medicine is the only answer. Science doesn’t know everything! I used these products on my dead rabbit and it came back to life, so there. 😉
Yeh, but I bought it and it worked!! This forum is so closed minded, you all think conventional medicine is the only answer. Science doesn’t know everything! I used these products on my dead rabbit and it came back to life, so there. 😉
Actually, your mom just went out and got a new rabbit. Mr Bunnsy is buried under the rose bushes in the back, and the new one is more appropriately *Mrs* Bunnsy.
I have to admit it would be hard to put one over on him. I don’t have near the patience he does in researching and expounding on the stuff our local nutjobs come up with. Gotta give him credit for that.
Heck, quite often they’ll say that they don’t actually know anything about the product and don’t care about knowing it, either.
And then they accuse us of being the ones who are refusing to learn about the product.
that’s my buddy to a “T” a couple of nights ago he and i got into it about CieAura. I kept asking him question and he kept saying “i dont know” “i dont know” “i dont know”
and I simply say:
“how can you not know…you are selling this product (or giving it away, he does both) you are endorsing this product and you know nothing about it how is that possible? I know quite a bit about this product and am finding that i want to know more and nobody can tell me more!”
and his response is:
“i dont have the time and the energy for that nor do i care to know how it works and if you want to know more then here contact this guy”
he hands me a card with a couple of email addresses and phone numbers (so far he has not answered my call nor returned my voice mail messages…guess the emails are next)
you hit that defense tactic on the head!!![size=3]
I’ve taken to answering this argument with one of my own: my amazing and marvelous shotgun-to-the-head therapy. This therapy consists of being shot repeatedly in the head at close range by a shotgun firing alternating loads of solid sabots and buckshot. This therapy will cure cancer, increase vitality, improve complexion, boost intelligence, properly align your chakras, balance your cellular resonance energy, antioxidise your quantum, and stop your feet from stinking.
Of course, when you take away the emotional aspect of it all and look at what the person actually has to say, you’ll generally see that they don’t really have anything to say. Often, they’ll just be a case of “my claim is right because a vague undefined feeling tells me that it is”.
Or ... “Because I really really NEED it to be true!” 😕 :down:
