| Analytical tools | |
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Prolife, prochoice, and abortion-neutral links.
Anecdotal Evidence & Testimonials
Avoiding the Question
Barnum Effect & Gullibility
Bias and Vested Interest
Black & White Thinking
Common Misconceptions About Quackery
Confirmation Bias
Critically Evaluating the Logic and Validity of Information
Distinguishing Science and Pseudoscience
Economy with the Truth
Fear, Complexity, & Environmental Management in the 21st Century
Fetal Tissue Sales Stories
Five Rules of Propaganda
Five Steps
How Gullible Are We?
How Quackery Sells
Influence at Work
Junk Science Judo
Logic & Fallacies
Nizkor Project
Propaganda and Persuasion
Propaganda Analysis Home Page
Propaganda Techniques
Propaganda Techniques Related to Enviromental Scares
Reading Between the Numbers
Recognizing Propaganda Techniques
Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic
Repetition: Argumentum Ad Nauseam
Self-Deception
Subjective Validation
That's Hooey!
Truth seekers and partisans
Unskilled and Unaware
Vagueness
What is Critical Thinking?
What is Propaganda?
Why is Logic Important?
Wikipedia entry on propaganda.
Wikipedia entry on public relations.
Because the use of anecdotal evidence and testimonials from others is so common, it often goes unrecognized for the problem that it is.
It is unfortunately common that many important questions and challenges go unanswered — but why do people do this? A common reason may be a desire to avoid admitting that they might be wrong
A common reference point as to why people believe the advice of psychics and astrologers - not to mention many other nice things said about them - is the "Barnum Effect."
Bias occurs any time that facts are interpreted in a way that unreasonably favors one position over another; vested interest is a cause of bias in which one will personally and specifically benefit if people adopt a particular position.
When we fall victim to Black and White Thinking, we have reduced an entire spectrum of possibilities down to the two most extreme options.
All of these misconceptions apply to the quackery of abortion.
This one is a must-read. Confirmation bias is the process by which we selectively pay attention to what we already believe to be true.
A brief and very readable overview, with hints on how to identify valid and invalid arguments.
Very reader-friendly, light in tone but providing important information.
If our beliefs are to be sound, justified, and rational, then they must fully take into account all available and relevant information.
A piece by Michael Crichton about complex systems and the difficulty of making predictions. This would apply, I'd assume, to predictions of eliminating child abuse by making abortion readily available.
Examining what has already been documented about the abortion industry gives us a means of judging the credibility of Dean Alberty's stories.
Short and sweet. You probably won't even need to scroll.
A business manager site, but with some good guidelines for critical thinking skills.
A science fair project teaches the importance of thinking before we draw conclusions.
Reader-friendly look at how false cures can be sold. The parallels to abortion are striking.
The Psychology of Persuasion.
The basics of how to spot junk science.
This guide to basic logic is on an Atheist site. Make what you will of the atheism, but the logic information is good.
This guide to identifying false arguments is on an anti-Revisionist site. Make what you will of the rest of the site, but the Fallacies page is good overall logic.
An excellent article on the differences between the two.
Execellent guide to developing skills in identifying and analyzing propaganda.
An overview of 11 popular propaganda techniques.
If you see them in one context, it might help you to spot them in other contexts. The methods are the same, even if the content differs.
Five excellent steps you can take to avoid being bamboozled by BS.
These techniques are designed to fool us because the appeal to our emotions rather than to our reason.
Short and sweet. An excellent basic overview.
The mass media often plays an important role in the spread of invalid ideas, for example by failing to provide any skeptical arguments or even acknowledging that skepticism exists.
How can you fool yourself? Can you fool yourself?
Subjective validation is also sometimes used to describe how people can become overconfident about their prejudices. Essentially, we talk ourselves into believing that we are right even when the evidence should convince us that we are wrong.
Take this quiz to see how well you can spot bad arguments.
A fascinating look at brain activity and challenges to one's beliefs.
Being mistaken about something is not a flaw in a person's reasoning and neither is being unskilled in constructing or analyzing logical arguments. Where a flaw does occur, the worse a person is at such tasks, the less likely they are to realize it.
Just because a person is being vagues doesn't mean he's necessarily wrong, but it's a good idea to find out exactly what's happening and why.
An excellent analysis of why we all need to cultivate and develop critical thinking skills.
This is a lesson plan which can be used as a group exercise, or just for your own edification.
Is it a waste of time to learn to identify false arguments, or to learn to make sound arguments?
An excellent overview, information on the history of propaganda, and specific propaganda techniques.
Once you read through this, you'll start recognizing the tricks.
