Logical Fallacy

Brett Willis

Kaylee Britt

Appeal to Ridicule

• Definition: a fallacy in which ridicule or mockery is substituted for evidence in an “argument”.

• “Equal rights for women? Yeah, I’ll support that when they start paying for dinner and taking out the trash! Hah hah! Fetch me another brewski, Mildred”

Visual RepresentationA great point and solution is brought up by the man with the beard, but because of his beard, his argument loses credibility because facts against his side of the argument are substituted with a mockery of his physical appearance.

The Crucible

• Act 1, page 181

• Proctor: To live in, yes. But to ask ownership is like you shall own the meeting house itself; the last meeting I were at, you spoke so long on deeds and mortgages I

thought it were an auction. • Explanation: Proctor is comparing auctions to Parris’s

sermons because they both contain money, deeds, and mortgages.

The Crucible

• Act 2, page 198• Proctor: Since we built the church there were pewter candlesticks

upon the alter…when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows- it my prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses.

• Explanation: Proctor is criticizing Parris’s sermons because they contain talks of money and material items. When Proctor states the Parris dreams of Cathedrals , and not clapboards houses, it shows how much of a materialistic person Parris is becoming. When Proctor is talking about money glaring at his elbows, he is describing what his prayers are turning into when Parris preaches.

The Crucible

• Act 3, page 217• Proctor: There might also be a dragon with five

legs in my house, but no one has ever seen it. • Explanation: Proctor is talking about a dragon in

his house because the people of Salem are accusing his wife of having many poppet's in her house. When in reality he’s trying to throw them off by stating he might have a dragon with five feet in his house, because, the poppets have never been see by anybody, except the one Mary Warren made for her.

The Crucible

• Act 3, page 214• Putnam: It is a lie.• Danforth: Mr. Putnam states your charge is a lie. What

say you to that?• Giles: A fart on Thomas Putnam, that is what I say to

that. • Explanation: Giles is in a situation where he is losing the

battle, so in order to gain some control he mock Thomas Putnam instead of answering the question and presenting any real facts.

Bibliography

• The Nizkor Project. "Fallacy: Appeal to Ridicule." Holocaust Educational Resource. 2011. Web. 19 Feb. 2012

• SaidWords. "Share It:." Appeal to Ridicule. BitStrips, 09 Aug. 2008. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.