Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Let’s start off by reviewing a fallacy we covered earlier this season, the Appeal to Privacy. The Appeal to Privacy happens when someone behaves in a way that either negatively affects others or could potentially negatively affect others, but uses the idea of privacy as a way to avoid scrutiny or criticism. This can look a little different each time it’s used, but often, the person appealing to privacy claims that something is private and because it’s private, it therefore shouldn’t be open to examination or discussion.
Question to ask yourself: “Is it really true that they need privacy or are they just avoiding the question?”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 111.
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Alright, let’s dive into today’s new fallacy, the Argument to Force. The Argument to Force happens when someone attempts to get you to accept their argument by threatening or forcing you. The official name of this fallacy is Argumentum ad Baculum, which is a Latin phrase that means Argument to the Stick. In other words, accept my argument or I’ll beat you with this stick.. Accept my argument or there will be consequences.
Here’s a simple example that you’ve probably heard: “Stop that crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” Yikes. You see how they’re trying to get the other person, sadly in this case it’s usually a kid, to do something, to stop crying. And what are they appealing to to convince the kid to stop crying? Force. ‘I’ll give you something to cry about’ implies that they’ll hurt the kid in some way that’ll really make them cry. What a cruel thing to do! But that really sums up this fallacy.
Or, you’ve probably seen this one in movies: Someone is getting robbed in a dark alley and the thief says, “Give me your wallet or I’ll shoot.” Now, clearly that’s a violent threat, but it still falls under the umbrella of this Appeal to Force Fallacy.
Often, bullies use the Appeal to Force Fallacy to make someone afraid or to keep them doing what the bully wants them to do simply by threatening to hurt them.
The problem behind the Appeal to Force fallacy is simple: it uses coercion or the threat of force to justify their conclusion rather than using an actual good argument to support their conclusion. As you can tell by now, any time a person uses anything other than a well-supported argument to back up their claim, it’s going to be a fallacy of some sort. This is no exception.
Here are a few other examples of what the Appeal to Force Fallacy sounds like: Ginger & Jewels are discussing which movie to watch. Ginger says: "Let's watch the movie I want, or I won't be your friend anymore!" In this example, Ginger is using the Argumentum ad Baculum fallacy by threatening to end the friendship if her movie choice is not accepted. She's trying to persuade her friend through the fear of losing the friendship rather than presenting valid reasons for her movie preference.
One final example: Caleb is trying to convince his parents to buy him a new smartphone. He says, “If you don't buy me a smartphone, I'll run away from home!" Caleb should have listened to this podcast and learned how to actually make a good argument with reasons WHY he should get a cell phone rather than attempting to manipulate his parents' decision through the fear of negative consequences. He should be prepared to present valid reasons or be ready to discuss alternatives.
One final example: and this one really happened to lots of people, sadly. During the Covid pandemic, there were lots of people who were faced with an Appeal to Force. They were told by their workplace: take the Covid shot or you’re going to lose your job. Nevermind that there was no data to show whether the shot was safe or effective, they were simply threatened with job loss as a way to get them to comply. In this case, there were lots of people who it worked on - they took the shot JUST so they wouldn’t lose their job, even though they really didn’t want to take it. And there were also people who didn’t take it and really did end up losing their jobs.
Question to ask yourself if someone comes at you with an Appeal to Force Fallacy is really simple: “Did you just threaten me?” *repeat*
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?”
