Of blog posts and sweeping statements

In: Internet and Web| Language

26 Feb 2007

I do observe that some bloggers (myself included) are very much liable to commit sweeping statements. It’s a fallacy that’s quite common to commit. I know teachers of college freshman English will be so frustrated knowing that a good number of their spawns are going against the rules of academic writing. And it’s just one of the many inductive fallacies and all the other logical fallacies that one can commit in writing.

Here’s my opinion on why we are liable to stumble on such a pitfall such as sweeping generalizations:

  • To claim authority – Blogs act as our own soapboxes (if not pulpits) to whatever idea we might want to get out to the reading public. And as far as we know, claiming absolutes read more “credibly” during a quick read. So we just sweep rather than bore them with statistics.
  • Escape from not knowing – Ever tried to Google for that piece of statistic to back up your claims to no avail? So the next “best” thing that one might do is to make haphazard guesses. However, writer seldom resort to choosing the right quantifiers like “some” or “a few.” “More” and “all” seem to command more authority (which leads back to the first dilemma).
  • In any case, it’s usually the case that being too strict on being logical and keeping oneself in check with all of these fallacies can be a bore. And from personal experience, it kills creativity. It takes real skill to be creative and logical at the same time.

    Or is this post full of fallacious claims too? Haha. Any other thoughts?

    Check out these other posts:

    1. Finally done with my 1st run of Blog to Profit posts
    2. Heeey… my sis finally puts up her own blog
    3. Wee, I’m cited by the Blog Herald!
    4. Maher is right
    5. How do we define ‘authority’ in blogging?

    1 Response to Of blog posts and sweeping statements

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    The Construct by Alex Maximo - Commentaries on social media discourse - : Wee, I’m cited at the Blog Herald!

    February 28th, 2007 at 6:11 am

    [...] to J. Angelo for extending my discussion on blogging and generalizations. And on the Blog Herald no [...]

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