Assumes conclusions prior to the evidence.
Cherry-picks evidence to support assumed conclusions.
Ignores contradictory evidence.
Repeats discredited evidence and uses biased sources.
Assumes causation where only correlation is established.
Makes liberal (liberal!) use of insinuations not warranted by the evidence.
Has no regard for rules of logical or scientific methods.
Advocates simplistic views of complex problems.
Unsourced and false claims.
Uncountable logical fallacies.
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The Claim:
"Cleveland prefers state capitalism. It owns and operates a big grocery store, the West Side Market. Typical of government, it's open only four days a week, and two of those days it closes at 4 p.m."
[This March 2010 piece is currently unavailable at the Fox website.]
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The Truth: The West Side Market isn't a "grocery store" at all. It's a farmer's market, and the city is the landlord, leasing the building to a hundred vendors who sell fresh vegetables, meats, flowers. It's only open four days a week -- in the daytime -- because it's a real market, not because that's "typical of government." -- Jackson Williams (4/14/2010) -
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The Claim:
"Yes, the tax cuts stimulated the economy and increased tax revenues. It happens because, as the Laffer Curve illustrates, lower rates mean higher rewards for productive activities."
May 16, 2007,
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The Claim: "Tort lawyers lie. They say their product liability suits are good for us. But their lawsuits rarely make our lives better. They make lawyers and a few of their clients better off -- but for the majority of us, they make life much worse." More |
The Response from Lawyers (with some of the contradictory evidence Stossel regularly ignores):
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The Claim:
"The Food You Eat", 20/20, 2/4/2010
He maintained that the tests found no pesticide residue in either the conventional or organic produce, thereby removing a key reason for buying organic food.
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Response from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting:
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The Claim:
"The EPA says over the past 30 years, the air has been getting cleaner.... Every major pollutant the government measures is decreasing." - 6/29/2001, 20/20
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The Truth: "Over the past 200 years, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil have caused the concentration of heat-trapping 'greenhouse gases' to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.
The levels of these gases are increasing at a faster rate than at any time in hundreds of thousands of years. If human activities continue to release greenhouse gases at or above the current rate, we will continue to increase average temperatures around the globe. Increases in global temperatures will most likely change our planet's climate in ways that will have significant long term effects on people and the environment."
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The Claim:
"We had our big recession in 1920, no Fed. We recovered in 1921. You don't need them."
-- O'Reilly Factor, 6/14/2011
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The Truth:
The Federal Reserve was established in 1913.
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| Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... |
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Links relating to John Stossel's dishonesty:
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Logical Fallacies:
False Dilemma
Argument from Ignorance
Slippery Slope
Complex Question
Appeal to Consequences
Prejudicial Language
Anonymous Authorities
Style Over Substance
Hasty Generalization
Unrepresentative Sample
False Analogy
Fallacy of Exclusion
Coincidental Correlation
Joint Effect
Complex Cause
Begging the Question
Straw Man
Inconsistency |
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