PHIL110 Critical Thinking – SPS CUNY
Unit 7 Discussion Assignment
Fake News and Logical Fallacies: A Creative Writing Assignment
Background:
At the present time, the pernicious use of disinformation is rising. It’s all around us: on social
media, in advertisements, and especially amid electoral politics. “Disinformation tries to
aise ... support by deliberately spreading falsehoods. It might describe an event which didn’t
happen, or which happened differently than how it is described. It might accuse a person or
group of doing something they did not do. It might warn of a threat from an enemy or a source
of danger which does not exist, or which in reality is fairly trivial. It might discredit or divert
attention away from well-evidenced facts or well-documented historical realities….
Disinformation is often extremely difficult to identify, at least at first. It often requires a lot of
esearch, a lot of courageous questions, and a lot of time to pass, before the reality is
evealed.” (Myers, B., Elsby, C., Zieba, A. [2017]. Propaganda and Disinformation. In Clear
and Present Thinking [Second edition ed., pp XXXXXXXXXX]. Gatineau,, Québec, Canada: Northwest
Passage Books.).
Fake news and disinformation also often employ bad arguments or fallacies. For this
discussion forum assignment, you will start with a piece of fake news from the Snopes website,
and then creatively rewrite it to exemplify one of the fallacies we've studied in this unit.
Remember, these are fallacies of distraction, such as appeals to emotion (fear, pity, anger,
spite, etc.), that are a type of argument that attempts to divert your attention and make you
think with your heart -- and thus bypassing your
ain!
Before we get started, here are some resources for you:
Fake News:
CBS released an article that warned people of the Fake News Websites going around. To read
about them, please visit: CBSnews.com
Fact Check:
There are also several organizations and news sites that are dedicated to reporting the truth and
pointing out the lies:
Factcheck.org
politifact.com
fullfact.org
snopes.com
Trusted news sites:
NPR
The New York Times
Washington Post
Reuters
Democracynow.org
List of fake news websites
https:
www.cbsnews.com/pictures/dont-get-fooled-by-these-fake-news-sites/8
https:
www.factcheck.org
https:
www.politifact.com
https:
fullfact.org
https:
www.snopes.com
https:
www.npr.org
https:
www.nytimes.com
https:
www.washingtonpost.com
https:
www.reuters.com
https:
www.democracynow.org
https:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fake_news_websites
https:
www.snopes.com
https:
www.cbsnews.com/pictures/dont-get-fooled-by-these-fake-news-sites/8
https:
www.factcheck.org
https:
www.politifact.com
https:
fullfact.org
https:
www.snopes.com
https:
www.npr.org
https:
www.nytimes.com
https:
www.washingtonpost.com
https:
www.reuters.com
https:
www.democracynow.org
PHIL110 Critical Thinking – SPS CUNY
Assignment Instructions:
For this assignment, you will be offering your classmates an actual piece of fake news (or more,
if you're so motivated), presented first as it originally appeared, and then reimagined (or
exaggerated) in the form of one of the fallacies in this unit, for example, a fallacy of emotion. In
other words, your task will be to select a story (or two) from the ‘Fact Check’ section of the
Snopes website and present it in a form of a fallacy of flawed inductive reasoning that we
learned about in this Unit. Use your creative juices to really stir up your readers!
Step 1. Look for some fake news that piques your interest. It doesn’t have to be the most cu
ent
news, so be sure to scroll all the way down on the page (there is a lot to choose from!). Fact
Check’ section of the Snopes website
Step 2. On the Discussion Forum,
iefly explain and link to your news story. Give us a little
ackground, especially how it was determined whether it was true or fake.
Step 3. Select one of the logical fallacies from this list (be sure to review the definition, the
logical form and the examples):
Appeal to fear:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/32/Appeal-to-Fear
Appeal to emotion:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/29/Appeal-to-Emotion
Appeal to anger:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/20/Appeal-to-Anger
Appeal to pity:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/39/Appeal-to-Pity
Appeal to spite:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/211/Appeal-to-Spite
Straw Man:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/169/Strawman-Fallacy
Red He
ing:
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/150/Red-He
ing
Ad Hominem (abusive):
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/1/Ad-Hominem-Abusive
Ad Hominem (guilt by association):
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/10/Ad-Hominem-Guilt-by-
Association
Step 4. Creatively reimagine or exaggerate your fake news in light of one logical fallacy. Be
creative: what might someone think or say who holds this particular position? How would they
argue, what would they say? Then use the Logical Fallacy form to guide your argument
econstruction. This is a creative writing assignment, so go ahead and be bold!
https:
www.snopes.com/fact-check
https:
www.snopes.com/fact-check
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/32/Appeal-to-Fea
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/39/Appeal-to-Pity
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/211/Appeal-to-Spite
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/169/Strawman-Fallacy
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/150/Red-He
ing
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/1/Ad-Hominem-Abusive
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/10/Ad-Hominem-Guilt-by-Association
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/10/Ad-Hominem-Guilt-by-Association
https:
www.snopes.com/fact-check
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/32/Appeal-to-Fea
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/29/Appeal-to-Emotion
PHIL110 Critical Thinking – SPS CUNY
Step 5. Briefly reflect on your reaction to this assignment. What did you learn and what is
your overall take-away?
Step 6. Read and respond to two other students’ posts. Engage them in a conversation about
the content of the fake news as well as their logical fallacies.
Here's my example:
Here is a fake news story that juxtaposes two images of Bret Kavanaugh, one as his younger self
(supposedly passed out from excessive drinking in 1982), and another prior to his Supreme Court
nomination in XXXXXXXXXXBased on some investigation, we know this is fake - the picture on the left
is a stock image from Getty Images.
I opted to represent this fake news as an appeal to anger. The logical form of appeal to anger can
e represented as the following (LF):
Claim A is made.
You are outraged by claim A.
Therefore, claim A is true/false.
Here's my exaggerated version of the original piece of fake news:
In light of some disconcerting news about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, many
questions have been raised about his alcoholism. On 9/27/2018, the Senate Judiciary Committee
heard testimony from Christine Blasey Ford in which she detailed an alleged act of
sexual assault against her by Brett Kavanaugh after some heavy liquor consumption on his part.
A claim has been made that Brett Kavanaugh has a serious drinking problem. (Claim A is made)
This is completely unacceptable and it infuriates me that a person with such an obvious character
flaw - who also sexually assaulted a helpless young woman who begged him to stop his deviant
advances -- has been nominated to be be a Supreme Court Judge of the United States of America.
It's criminal! (You are outraged by claim A). Just look at this picture! This is exactly what I’m
talking about. It’s true and here's the undeniable evidence for it! The guy is a first-class pervert
and a hopeless drunkard. (Therefore, claim A is true).
https:
www.snopes.com/fact-check
ett-kavanaugh-wasted-photo
https:
www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/20/Appeal-to-Ange
https:
www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/09/27/kavanaugh-hearing-transcript
https:
www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/09/27/kavanaugh-hearing-transcript
https:
www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/oct/02
log-posting/photo-
ett-kavanaugh-passed-out-drinking
mfitzgerald
Underline
PHIL110 Critical Thinking – SPS CUNY
Here is what I learned by doing this assignment… (you'll write about what skills or knowledge
you've picked up from this assignment).
Now, don your creative hat and circulate some really vicious Fake News!
Recommendations for Success and Grading Criteria:
• Respond to the assignment with clear and detailed answers, organized thoughts.
• Follow all assignment prompts and answers all prompt questions.
• Incorporate relevant examples and evidence to support claims.
• Write clearly and without e
ors a well-composed answer and post it on time.
• Respond to other students with interesting comments and follow-up
questions. Acknowledge all students who commented on your post.