Helke & Khan Adam Helke & Ayemen Khan 10/20/13 ENG 1103-028 Professor Blair

The dictionary definition of a fallacy is an argument with unsound or deceptive reasoning. Fallacies are malicious techniques used to sway the opinion of an audience through a variety of types of media, including television ads, news articles, and speeches. Fallacies are similar to propaganda techniques, but they are usually more misleading and targeted towards opponents. A perfect example of some types of fallacies and propaganda techniques is the article on gun control, written by the president of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre. LaPierre used techniques from Woods fallacies, and McClintoks propaganda techniques to create an argument that is dishonest and unfair to the opposing viewpoint in order to justify the purchase and use of firearms, and oppose the making and passing of gun law. The fallacies as defined by Nancy Wood are misleading to the audience at hand. The first fallacy that stands out in the gun control article is a hasty generalization. A hasty generalization, by definition of Woods article, is when arguers jump to conclusions by basing a conclusion on too few examples. (Wood, pg. 3) Here is an excerpt from LaPierres article that contains a hasty generalization. Before I tell you how the NRA and our members are going to Stand And Fight politically and in the courts, lets acknowledge that all over this country, tens of millions of Americans are already

Helke & Khan preparing to Stand And Fight to protect their families and homes. These good Americans are prudently getting ready to protect themselves. It has always been sensible for good citizens to own and carry firearms for lawful protection against violent criminals who prey on decent people. (LaPierre, par. 1,2,3) This is a hasty generalization because it jumps to the conclusion that over 10 million people in America are prepping themselves to protect against some sort of attack. This generalization brings to mind the show Doomsday Preppers. It brings the picture that people are getting ready for some kind of end of time. In reality, they are going on with their daily lives. The next technique that shows up in the article numerous times is the slippery slope tactic. By definition, it is a scare tactic that suggests that if we allow one thing to happen, we will immediately be sliding down the slippery slope to disaster. (Wood, pg. 4) This technique is effective because it often uses examples of tragedies to appeal to the emotion of readers. The following two examples show the slippery slope technique. The first is when LaPierre says No wonder Americans are buying guns in record numbers right now, while they still can and before their choice about which firearm is right for their family is taken away forever. (LaPierre, 8) This appeals to readers because it speaks on the topic of our rights as citizens. Most people do not want to hear that their liberties are being taken from them, so he claims that when gun control grows we will soon be unable to purchase firearms for personal protection. The next example is when he states

Helke & Khan Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to facenot just maybe. Its not paranoia to buy a gun. Its survival. Its responsible behavior, and its time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that. (LaPierre, par 12) To start off, the first two examples have nothing to do with owning a weapon. I believe he is trying to state that with natural disaster, comes looters and robbers, but he does not state this and makes it sound like you can stop tornadoes with firearms. He generalizes that people are victim to riots, terrorists, gangs, and other criminals on a daily basis, as well as that America is falling into anarchy and that gang and terrorist activity is standard. The next example is more clearly a slippery slope than the previous two. He says this: Responsible Americans realize that the world as we know it has changed. We, the American people, clearly see the daunting forces we will undoubtedly face: terrorists, crime, drug gangs, the possibility of Eurostyle debt riots, civil unrest or natural disaster. (LaPierre, par. 16) Here he clearly states that we will face gangs and riots in the future. This is slippery slope because makes it sound like with gun control we will fall victim to these sources of evil and be unable to protect ourselves, and the country will fall into turmoil and unrest. The language he uses helps to strike fear into the reader because words like riot, terrorist, gang, are things feared throughout the entire world. Another example of slippery slope is when Wayne LaPierre says

Helke & Khan Meanwhile, President Obama is leading this country to financial ruin, borrowing over a trillion dollars a year for phony stimulus spending and other payoffs for his political cronies. Nobody knows if or when the fiscal collapse will come, but if the country is broke, there likely wont be enough money to pay for police protection. And the American people know it. (LaPierre, par. 11) He makes the claim that the stimulus package will bring a fiscal collapse. From this, he claims that there will be no money for police protection and we will be in total chaos. Obviously this is an exaggeration, because funding for things such as police is important in society. Also, a stimulus package, while having a chance to cause harm to the economy, will most likely help at least a little bit since it is designed for that. A propaganda technique shown in LaPierres article is glittering generalities. Activists are advising tighter and stricter gun control laws to help protect the American people but the other side of this continuing debate, people in the NRA and others like LaPierre are saying, These good Americans are prudently getting ready to protect themselves. (LaPierre, par. 2) The first sentence of LaPierres article uses the technique of glittering generalities, which is surrounding the topic or product with highly attractive and slippery words that bring a positive feeling with it. LaPierre says, Before I tell you how the NRA and our members are going to Stand And Fight politically and in the courts, lets acknowledge that all over this country, tens of millions of Americans are already preparing to Stand And Fight to protect their families and homes. (LaPierre, par. 1)

Helke & Khan Stand and fight to protect their families and homes is an example of glittering generalities because those are words that bring good vibes and persuade people to protect their families and homes. Glittering generalities are present all throughout, as in the sentence in which he states, The NRA is launching a nationwide, full-court initiative to urge every gun owner, and every non-gunowning lover of freedom. (LaPierre, par. 28) Lover of freedom contains words that will appeal to ones emotions and thus make it a relevant example of glittering generalities. These are scattered all over the article as in the example of, We have so much to be proud of as gun owners, shooters and freedom lovers. That pride, especially when its not hidden in the closet, is itself a form of protection for the Second Amendment. (LaPierre, par. 36) Any word or words that are associated with progressive adjectives that describe emotions or how one feels better about themselves can be called glittering generalities, and in this case words like proud and pride are proof. The use of so many glittering generalities makes it appear as if the NRA is solely behind LaPierre and all of his absurd arguments when in reality, according to a survey conducted by John Hopkins University: A sizable 89 percent of all respondents, and 75 percent of those identified as NRA members, support universal background checks for gun sales. (Cline, par. 2) This displays that even NRA members support some kind of legislation against the second amendment, which goes to show how LaPierre uses exaggeration in his words and phrases. There are also many other statistics listed in the article that resemble how members of the NRA support other legislation regarding gun control. In many cases one sentence can contain multiple

Helke & Khan propaganda techniques. The media try to make rank-and-file Americans feel guilty about buying a gun. The enemies of freedom demonize gun buyers and portray us as social lepers. But we know the truth. We know that responsible gun ownership exemplifies what is good and right about America. (LaPierre, par. 15) This is a prime example of how name-calling and glittering generalities can be used at the same time. Name-calling is when negatively charged names are hurled against the opposing side or competitor, in an attempt to arouse feelings of mistrust, fear, and hate in their audiences. The use of the words enemies of freedom and social leapers shows how LaPierre emphasizes the hate of his opponents, and the words we know the truth and good and right about America emphasize the importance of the positive words related to his side. NRA grassroots has always been our Associations greatest strength. To compete with Bloomberg and his gang, it must be much stronger still. (LaPierre, par. 31) is an example of namecalling because LaPierre uses the word gang, which has a very negative connotation that usually sparks fear in people. When describing Obama and some of his political decisions LaPierre says, President Obama is leading this country to financial ruin, borrowing over a trillion dollars a year for phony stimulus spending and other payoffs for his political cronies, (LaPierre, par. 11) which shows evidence of name calling because of the words phony and payoffs

Helke & Khan because these words are obviously disrespectful and create contempt towards Obama and his administration. Plain folks is another propaganda technique that approaches a person by essentially saying they are just like you and appeals to the everyday person. Since the election, millions of Americans have been lining up in front of gun stores, Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops exercising their freedom while they still have it. They are demonstrating they have a mass determination to buy, own and use firearms. Millions of Americans are using market forces like never before to demonstrate their ardent support for our firearm freedoms. ( LaPierre, par. 13) The important words or phrases in this quote are millions of Americans which shows how LaPierre is connecting that everyday people are buying guns in large numbers. Another example of LaPierre using the technique of plain folks is: This begins with remembering to keep your own membership active, or reactivate it if it has lapsed. It means reminding yourself, I have a son and daughter who arent members and should be. It means reaching out to your hunting and shooting friends and personally telling them why its so important that they join the NRA now, during this time of peril. (LaPierre, par. 27) LaPierre wants every gun owner to be a member of the NRA and by indicating that parents should even remind their daughters, it shows how all plain folks

Helke & Khan that agree with LaPierre should join the NRA. Glittering generalities, name calling, and plain folks are just three techniques, we chose to highlight and focus on in this paper, even though there are many more examples filled in LaPierres article. These techniques have criterias that have to be met and all these specific examples meet every one of them emphasizing how hard LaPierre is trying to persuade the audience. Nancy Wood and McClintock and both authors that provide evidence for flawed writing and their fallacies and propaganda techniques are prominent in many articles that are circulating in society today. Wayne LaPierres Stand and Fight article about anti- gun laws are filled with Nancy Woods fallacies of hasty generalization, slippery slope, red herring, analogies, and straw man and McClintocks propaganda techniques of glittering generalities, name calling, and plain folks. LaPierre believes and wants to persuade people so strongly that he will use these fallacies one after another, but educated audiences will be able to point them out and understand the difference between the truths and lies. The style of LaPierres writing is very hostile towards Obama and his administration, thus making the fallacies and propaganda techniques stand out even more. Through understand all the fallacies and techniques, LaPierres writing is very clear to understand and without learning about the fallacies, one could easily be tricked into believing something they do not truly understand.

Helke & Khan Works Cited Cline, Seth. "Strong Majority of Americans, NRA Members Back Gun Control." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. "Fallacy." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. LaPierre, Wayne. "Stand and Fight." The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. McClintok, Ann. Propaganda Techniques in Todays Advertising. The Longman Reader. Ed. Judith Nadell. New York: Longman, 2003. 304-311. Print Wood, Nancy. Essentials of Argument. Upper Saddle River: Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.