Lesson Three, Chapters 3 and 4
One. What are the different cultural tensions in America and France?
In America, we alternate between freedom and prohibition, indulgence and shame, reckless abandon and control.
We love to overeat during the year and then punish ourselves with starvation and "cleansing" diets after the New Year.
We are a nation of extremes.
We see this tension in the idea of public vs. private school. Public school represents freedom and failure while private school represents strictness and success.
Another extreme in America: "Either you are a homeowner (winner) or renter (loser)."
Rapaille says that as a nation of extremes, we try to reconcile our contradictions in absurd ways.
For example, we watch NFL as the players are free to commit violence against one another; however, there are penalties for personal fouls and unsportsman-like conduct, thereby maintaining a constant tension between freedom and prohibition.
The Focus on Freedom in France Is Different
In contrast, France alternates between freedom of the working people and the privilege of the elite. Even without an elite in France, Rapaille observes, the structure still persists so that the unemployed see themselves as the privileged and demand entitlements that are greater than many workers in France receive (56).
These different tensions dictate different Codes in the realm of consumerism.
A Case of Code Clash
The Code for Disneyland in America, strict rules on smoking, drinking, and pets, for example, didn’t work in France, so that Disney failed to attract visitors until it created a French Code with a privileged area in the theme park for visitors to bring pets, smoke, and drink wine.
Two. What is the balancing act of beauty in America for women?
We read on page 57 that there “must be a balance between being attractive and being provocative.”
Cover Girl ads aspire to strike this balance, getting as close to being provocative without crossing the line or violating the rules. The Code for American women is this: “You have the freedom to obtain beauty, but you must do so within the given rules and prohibitions.”
Victoria’s Secret, we read, embodies this tension as the word Victoria suggests Victorian or Puritan rules as women can wear conservative clothing on the outside. But the “secret” is that women can wear what they please, sexy lingerie, on the inside, what amounts to the “hidden expression of beauty.”
American women in surveys talked about their own sense of beauty as having a profound effect on a man, which resulted in romance. By creating romantic feelings in a man, the American woman believes she can elevate a man from a mere animal on the prowl for sex to a superior, more sensitive romantic being. Therefore, in America the Beauty Code is Man’s Salvation. Men are saved by beauty.
Other cultures have different codes. For example, in Arab nations a woman advertises her husband’s wealth. Skinniness is a sign of poverty and obesity is a sign of wealth; therefore, rich women force-feed themselves into being obese to flatter their husbands.
In contrast, the Beauty Code in Norway is nature; therefore, the women aspire to be tall, skinny, athletic and natural looking evidenced by shunning make-up.
Back to American women, we find that while their beauty is believed to transform men from lust-craven ogres to sensitive romantics, a woman’s absence of beauty is for her a form of castigation, punishment, and damnation. There lies the opposite end of a woman’s resulting power from beauty.
Three. Why does Rapaille scoff at the idea that obesity can be cured with education?
In part because at the Tufts University symposium on obesity he noticed that many of the educated speakers who made this claim were themselves fat, so clearly “education,” whatever that means, is not the answer.
Rapaille probes deeper into psychology of obesity and sees that the problem is emotional, not intellectual. In fact, he writes that “being fat is a solution to a problem” and he makes the case that sexual abuse results in obesity for many girls and women. Sexual abuse leads to trauma and depression, risk factors for overeating. Furthermore, getting fat pushes abusers or potential abusers away.
Let’s put it this way: Being fat is a form of punishment and many victims of abuse feel guilty even though they are innocent victims. Feeling guilty, they eat themselves into fatness because they feel they deserve to be punished (68).
“The Code for fat in America is CHECKING OUT” (69). Fat people are disconnecting from society from a sense of guilt, depression, or some other psychological trauma.
Being poor causes depression and the impulse to CHECK OUT.
Being fat, I would add, also connects to “Walmart shopper attire” such as walking around in baggy sweats and clothes that scream “I’ve given up on life.”
When you think about it, any addiction—overeating, drugs, alcohol, television, sports fanaticism, shopping—is in a way a form of checking out and disconnecting from others.
Four. What are the three parts of the brain and what is their relationship to consumer codes?
The cortex guides reason and logic.
The limbic system directs emotions. Our relationship with our mother determines our limbic system; therefore, the limbic system is considered feminine.
The “champion” of the three “brains” is the reptilian, which is found in the cerebellum. These drives are over 200 million years old and are geared for survival and reproduction.
Five. In America, what is the Code for health and wellness?
We read on page 80 that “For Americans, health and wellness means being able to complete your mission.”
We are a nation of “doers”; as a result, we value our independence and self-reliance, attributes established by the American pioneers.
The Code for health in America is MOVEMENT. We are not a culture of repose, contemplation, meditation, and self-examination. We are a culture that must “always be on the go” (80).
We cannot even accept retirement in our country. We cannot accept that “we have stopped.” Many seek a second career in their 60s and 70s.
Other cultures have different Codes. In China, the health Code is harmony with nature. In Japan, the Code is staying healthy out of obligation to one’s culture because being in ill health makes one a burden to others (81).
In America, the Code for doctor is HERO; the Code for nurse is MOTHER.
But in contrast to above, the Code for hospitals is the very negative PROCESSING PLANT.
This makes sense when we realize we equate hospitals with immobility and death and for Americans health and freedom rely on movement.
Six. What is the American obsession with youth based on?
For Americans, a utopian world defies nature and allows us to be perpetual adolescents (85). We are a nation of immigrants, a people who came to the new country to leave their past behind and start over. This sense of renewal and reinvention makes us feel young.
We do not have a natural attitude toward age: Youth is not a stage of life but something we hide behind and wear instead of our natural age. “The American Culture Code for youth is MASK.”
In contrast to America, Britain disdains youth as annoying and boring and inexperienced and prone to mistakes.
Britain values its eccentrics, not its Peter Pans.
Ways to Improve Your Critical Reading
- Do a background check of the author to see if he or she has a hidden agenda or any other kind of background information that speaks to the author’s credibility.
- Check the place of publication to see what kind of agenda, if any, the publishing house has. Know how esteemed the publishing house is among peers of the subject you’re reading about.
- Learn how to find the thesis. In other words, know what the author’s purpose, explicit or implicit, is.
- Annotate more than underline. Your memory will be better served, according to research, by annotating than underlining. You can scribble your own code in the margins as long as you can understand your writing when you come back to it later. Annotating is a way of starting a dialogue about the reading and writing process. It is a form of pre-writing. Forms of annotation that I use are “yes,” (great point) “no,” (wrong, illogical, BS) and “?” (confusing). When I find the thesis, I’ll also write that in the margins. Or I’ll write down an essay or book title that the passage reminds me of. Or maybe even an idea for a story or a novel.
- When faced with a difficult text, you will have to slow down and use the principles of summarizing and paraphrasing. With summary, you concisely identify the main points in one or two sentences. With paraphrase, you re-word the text in your own words.
- When reading an argument, see if the writer addresses possible objections to his or her argument. Ask yourself, of all the objections, did the writer choose the most compelling ones? The more compelling the objections addressed, the more rigorous and credible the author’s writing.
Recognizing Logical Fallacies
Begging the Question
Begging the question assumes that a statement is self-evident when it actually requires proof.
Major Premise: Fulfilling all my major desires is the only way I can be happy.
Minor Premise: I can’t afford when of my greatest desires in life, a Lexus GS350.
Conclusion: Therefore, I can never be happy.
Circular Reasoning
Circular reasoning occurs when we support a statement by restating it in different terms.
Stealing is wrong because it is illegal.
Admitting women into the men’s club is wrong because it’s an invalid policy.
Your essay is woeful because of its egregious construction.
Your boyfriend is hideous because of his heinous characteristics.
I have to sell my car because I’m ready to sell it.
I can’t spend time with my kids because it’s too time consuming.
I need to spend more money on my presents than my family’s presents because I need bigger and better presents.
I’m a great father because I’m the best father my children have ever had.
Weak Analogy or Faulty Comparison
Analogies are never perfect but they can be powerful. The question is do they have a degree of validity to make them worth the effort.
A toxic relationship is like a cancer that gets worse and worse (fine).
Sugar is high-octane fuel to use before your workout (weak because there is nothing high-octane about a substance that causes you to crash and converts into fat and creates other problems)
Free education is a great flame and the masses are moths flying into the flames of destruction. (horribly false analogy)
Ad Hominem Fallacy (Personal Attack)
“Who are you to be a marriage counselor? You’ve been divorced six times?”
A lot of people give great advice and present sound arguments even if they don’t apply their principles to their lives, so we should focus on the argument, not personal attack.
“So you believe in universal health care, do you? I suppose you’re a communist and you hate America as well.”
Making someone you disagree with an American-hating communist is invalid and doesn’t address the actual argument.
“What do you mean you don’t believe in marriage? What are you, a crazed nihilist, an unrepentant anarchist, an immoral misanthrope, a craven miscreant?”
Straw Man Fallacy
You twist and misconstrue your opponent’s argument to make it look weaker than it is when you refute it. Instead of attacking the real issue, you aim for a weaker issue based on your deliberate misinterpretation of your opponent’s argument.
“Those who are against universal health care are heartless. They obviously don’t care if innocent children die.”
Hasty Generalization (Jumping to a Conclusion)
“I’ve had three English instructors who are middle-aged bald men. Therefore, all English instructors are middle-aged bald men.”
“I’ve met three Americans with false British accents and they were all annoying. Therefore, all Americans, such as Madonna, who contrive British accents are annoying.” Perhaps some Americans do so ironically and as a result are more funny than annoying.
Either/Or Fallacy
There are only two choices to an issue is an over simplification and an either/or fallacy.
“Either you be my girlfriend or you don’t like real men.”
“Either you be my boyfriend or you’re not a real American.”
“Either you play football for me or you’re not a real man.”
“Either you’re for us or against us.” (The enemy of our enemy is our friend is every day foreign policy.)
“Either you agree with me about increasing the minimum wage, or you’re okay with letting children starve to death.”
“Either you get a 4.0 and get admitted into USC, or you’re only half a man.”
Equivocation
Equivocation occurs when you deliberately twist the meaning of something in order to justify your position.
“You told me the used car you just sold me was in ‘good working condition.’”
“I said ‘good,’ not perfect.”
The seller is equivocating.
“I told you to be in bed by ten.”
“I thought you meant be home by ten.”
“You told me you were going to pay me the money you owe me on Friday.”
“I didn’t know you meant the whole sum.”
“You told me you were going to take me out on my birthday.”
“Technically speaking, the picnic I made for us in the backyard was a form of ‘going out.’”
Red Herring Fallacy
This fallacy is to throw a distraction in your opponent’s face because you know a distraction may help you win the argument.
“Barack Obama wants us to support him but his father was a Muslim. How can we trust the President on the war against terrorism when he has terrorist ties?”
“You said you were going to pay me my thousand dollars today. Where is it?”
“Dear friend, I’ve been diagnosed with a very serious medical condition. Can we talk about our money issue some other time?”
Slippery Slope Fallacy
We go down a rabbit hole of exaggerated consequences to make our point sound convincing.
“If we allow gay marriage, we’ll have to allow people to marry gorillas.”
“If we allow gay marriage, my marriage to my wife will be disrespected and dishonored.”
Appeal to Authority
Using a celebrity to promote an energy drink doesn’t make this drink effective in increasing performance.
Listening to an actor play a doctor on TV doesn’t make the pharmaceutical he’s promoting safe or effective.
Tradition Fallacy
“We’ve never allowed women into our country club. Why should we start now?”
“Women have always served men. That’s the way it’s been and that’s the way it always should be.”
Misuse of Statistics
Using stats to show causality when it’s a condition of correlation or omitting other facts.
“Ninety-nine percent of people who take this remedy see their cold go away in ten days.” (Colds go away on their own).
“Violent crime from home intruders goes down twenty percent in home equipped with guns.” (more people in those homes die of accidental shootings or suicides)
Post Hoc, Confusing Causality with Correlation
Taking cold medicine makes your cold go away. Really?
The rooster crows and makes the sun go up. Really?
You drink on a Thursday night and on Friday morning you get an A on your calculus exam. Really?
You stop drinking milk and you feel stronger. Really? (or is it placebo effect?)
Non Sequitur (It Does Not Follow)
The conclusion in an argument is not relevant to the premises.
Megan drives a BMW, so she must be rich.
McMahon understands the difference between a phrase and a dependent clause; therefore, he must be a genius.
Whenever I eat chocolate cake, I feel good. Therefore, chocolate cake must be good for me.
Bandwagon Fallacy
Because everyone believes something, it must be right.
“You can steal a little at work. Everyone else does.”
“In Paris, ninety-nine percent of all husbands have a secret mistress. Therefore adultery is not immoral.”
What Jon Stewart Exposes Various Weaknesses in Thinking and Fallacies
One. Straw Man: Twist original material
Two. Non Sequitur: "It does not follow." Rap is not the issue. It's a non sequitur or a red herring (a distraction).
Three. Double-Standard: Hold blacks to one standard and whites to another when it comes to "responsibility."
Four. Measuring proportion. Is racism isolated or pervasive?
Five. Purposely misinterpreting and being selective with data. For example, one talking head from WSJ is right about the petty arrests but glosses over that it's 90% blacks who are getting arrested under these petty circumstances.
Six. Shameless denial of racism. If you repeat a lie over and over, it becomes some people's "truth."
The Importance of Definition in Your Essays
Often we’re analyzing a term that needs clarification. For example, what is morality? Is morality a divine-inspired quality? Or does morality evolve from society’s struggle to learn to create a community that flourishes as a result of cooperation and other cultural values that lift it beyond the individual animal fighting tooth and claw against his competition?
Definition by Synonym
One of the weakest ways to define a term is by naming it with its equivalent name, otherwise known as a synonym. The problem with renaming a term is the trap of the circular definition.
What is pornography?
Pornography is obscenity.
What is obscenity?
Obscenity is pornography.
Definition by Example
A more effective form of definition is to use an example, also called an ostensive definition from the Latin ostendere, “to show.”
What is happiness?
An example of happiness is a society, like Iceland, that nurtures its artists by encouraging them to fail. As a result, Iceland has the highest artists per capita in the world. A key example of happiness is a society that has flourishing artists.
Definition by Stipulation
Stipulations are conditions or requirements that you and your opponents agree to when debating a term.
For example, a ban on weapons needs the stipulation of assault weapons.
A parent is not merely a biological relation to the child; a parent must be present, engaged, and involved in the child’s upbringing.
Meaning is a form of purpose, but that purpose must be attached to a moral code; otherwise, Hitler’s “meaning,” a vision for an all-white race is allowed to be confused with real meaning.
An Extended Definition
An extended definition has three things: term, class, and distinguishing characteristics.
Water is a liquid comprised of H2O.
A parent is a person who is engaged and involved with her child’s upbringing, not merely a biological relation.
A chimera is an obsessive mental state characterized by projection of one’s fantasies, unrealistic expectations, and inevitable failure to meet those expectations.
Meaning is an orientation that gives us purpose, life force, morality, and character.
Love is a deformed mental state resulting in obsession, capriciousness, madness, and death.
Jim Crow is the perpetuation of White Supremacy characterized by the insidious reinvention of slavery through segregation laws, slave wages, and police abuse.
A Chanel No. 5 Moment is a form of narcissism in which you constantly crave the sense of being the star of your own movie, you spend all your resources getting this kind of attention, and you use people to achieve this aim only to find yourself alienated from life, yourself, and the human race.
Logic and Reasoning as a Part of Argumentation
Logic comes from the Greek word logos, meaning, word, thought, principle, or reason. Logic is concerned with the principles of correct reasoning.
Deductive reasoning starts with general premises and ends in specific conclusions. This process is expressed in a syllogism: major premise, minor premise, and conclusion.
Major Premise: All bald men should wear extra sunscreen on their bald head.
Minor Premise: Mr. X is a bald man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Mr. X should apply extra sunscreen.
A sound syllogism, one that is valid and true, must follow logically from the facts and be based on premises that are based on facts.
Major Premise: All state universities must accommodate disabled students.
Minor Premise: UCLA is a state university.
Conclusion: Therefore, UCLA must accommodate disabled students.
A syllogism can be valid without being true as we see in this example from Robert Cormier’s novel The Chocolate War:
Bailey earns straight A’s.
Straight A’s are a sign of perfection.
But only God is perfect.
Can Bailey be God? Of course not.
Therefore, Bailey is a cheater and a liar.
In the above example it’s not true that the perfection of God is equivalent to the perfection of a straight-A student (faulty comparison, a logical fallacy). So while the syllogism is valid, following logically from one point to the next, it’s based on a deception or a falsehood; therefore, it is not true.
Syllogism Example with a Questionable Conclusion
Your parents give you, small child, lots of sugar cereal and lollipops.
A high sugar diet leads to cavities.
Cavities result in trips to the dentist for teeth fillings.
These teeth fillings could have been avoided with a lower sugar diet.
Your parents subjected you to frequent trips to the dentist.
Unnecessary and frequent trips to the dentist are abusive.
Your parents, by virtue of giving you a high-sugar diet, are abusive.
We can conclude, then, that parents who give their children sweets should be reported to social services.
Syllogism with an Illogical Middle Term Is Invalid
Flawed logic occurs when the middle term has the same term in the major and minor premise but not in the conclusion.
Major Premise: All dogs are mammals.
Minor Premise: Some mammals are porpoises.
Conclusion: Therefore, some porpoises are dogs.
Syllogism with a Key Term Whose Meaning Shifts Cannot be Valid
Major Premise: Only man is capable of analytical reasoning.
Minor Premise: Anna is not a man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Anna is not capable of analytical reasoning.
The key term shift is “man,” which refers to “mankind,” not the male gender.
Syllogism with a Negative Premise
If either premise in a syllogism is negative, then the conclusion must also be negative. The following syllogism is not valid:
Major Premise: Only the Toyota Prius can go in the fast-track lane.
Minor Premise: The BMW 4 series is not a Toyota Prius.
Conclusion: Therefore, the BMW can drive in the fast-track lane.
If both premises are negative, the syllogism cannot have a valid conclusion:
Major Premise: The Toyota Prius cannot be denied entrance into the fast-track lane.
Minor Premise: The BMW 4 series is not a Toyota Prius.
Conclusion: Therefore, the BMW cannot be denied entrance into the fast-track lane.
Enthymemes
An enthymeme is a syllogism with one or two parts of its argument—usually, the major premise—missing.
Robert has lied, so he cannot be trusted.
We’re missing the major premise:
Major Premise: People who lie cannot be trusted.
Minor Premise: Robert has lied.
Conclusion: Therefore, Robert cannot be trusted.
When writers or speakers use enthymemes, they are sometimes trying to hide the flaw of the first premise:
Major Premise: All countries governed by dictators should be invaded.
Minor Premise: North Korea is a country governed by a dictator.
Conclusion: Therefore, North Korea should be invaded.
The premise that all countries governed by dictators should be invaded is a gross generalization and can easily be shot down under close scrutiny.
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning begins with specific observations or evidence and moves to a general conclusion.
My Volvo was always in the shop. My neighbor’s Mini Cooper and BMW are always in the shop. My other neighbor’s Audi is in the shop.
Now my wife and I own a Honda and Nissan and those cars are never in the shop.
European cars cost more to maintain than Japanese cars and the empirical evidence and data support my claim.
Checklist for Analyzing an Argument (103 of PDF)
What is the author's claim?
What support (evidence) is offered on behalf of the claim?
Does the writer seem to be fair?
Does the author gain credibility by addressing counterarguments?
Is the writer's tone and presence credible? Why or why not?
Argument and Look at the Writer's Strategies
"Being Green at Ben and Jerry's" by George F. Will
If you have an average-size dinner table, four feet by six feet, put a dime on the edge of it. Think of the surface of the table as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The dime is larger than the piece of the coastal plain that would have been opened to drilling for oil and natural gas. The House of Representatives voted for drilling, but the Senate voted against access to what Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and presidential aspirant, calls "a few drops of oil." ANWR could produce, for 25 years, at least as much oil as America currently imports from Saudi Arabia.
Six weeks of desultory Senate debate about the energy bill reached an almost comic culmination in... yet another agriculture subsidy. The subsidy is a requirement that will triple the amount of ethanol, which is made from corn, that must be put in gasoline, ostensibly to clean America's air, actually to buy farmers' votes.
Over the last three decades, energy use has risen about 30 percent. But so has population, which means per capita energy use is unchanged. And per capita GDP has risen substantially, so we are using 40 percent less energy per dollar output. Which is one reason there is no energy crisis, at least none as most Americans understand such things--a shortage of, and therefore high prices of, gasoline for cars, heating oil for furnaces and electricity for air conditioners.
In the absence of a crisis to concentrate the attention of the inattentive American majority, an intense faction--full-time environmentalists--goes to work. Spencer Abraham, the secretary of Energy, says "the previous administration... simply drew up a list of fuels it didn't like--nuclear energy, coal, hydropower, and oil--which together account for 73 percent of America's energy supply." Well, there are always windmills.
Sometimes lofty environmentalism is a cover for crude politics. The United States has the world's largest proven reserves of coal. But Mike Oliver, a retired physicist and engineer, and John Hospers, professor emeritus of philosophy at USC, note that in 1996 President Clinton put 68 billion tons of America's cleanest-burning coal, located in Utah, off-limits for mining, ostensibly for environmental reasons. If every existing U.S. electric power plant burned coal, the 68 billion tons could fuel them for 45 years at the current rate of consumption. Now power companies must import clean-burning coal, some from mines owned by Indonesia's Lippo Group, the heavy contributor to Clinton, whose decision about Utah's coal vastly increased the value of Lippo's coal.
The United States has just 2.14 percent of the world's proven reserves of oil, so some people say it is pointless to drill in places like ANWR because "energy independence" is a chimera. Indeed it is. But domestic supplies can provide important insurance against uncertain foreign supplies. And domestic supplies can mean exporting hundreds of billions of dollars less to oil-producing nations, such as Iraq.
Besides, when considering proven reserves, note the adjective. In 1930 the United States had proven reserves of 13 billion barrels. We then fought the Second World War and fueled the most fabulous economic expansion in human history, including the electricity-driven "New Economy." (Manufacturing and running computers consume 15 percent of U.S. electricity. Internet use alone accounts for half of the growth in demand for electricity.) So by 1990 proven reserves were... 17 billion barrels, not counting any in Alaska or Hawaii.
In 1975 proven reserves in the Persian Gulf were 74 billion barrels. In 1993 they were 663 billion, a ninefold increase. At the current rate of consumption, today's proven reserves would last 150 years. New discoveries will be made, some by vastly improved techniques of deep-water drilling. But environmental policies will define opportunities. The government estimates that beneath the U.S. outer continental shelf, which the government owns, there are at least 46 billion barrels of oil. But only 2 percent of the shelf has been leased for energy development.
Opponents of increased energy production usually argue for decreased consumption. But they flinch from conservation measures. A new $1 gasoline tax would dampen demand for gasoline, but it would stimulate demands for the heads of the tax increasers. After all, Americans get irritable when impersonal market forces add 25 cents to the cost of a gallon. Tougher fuel-efficiency requirements for vehicles would save a lot of energy. But who would save the legislators who passed those requirements? Beware the wrath of Americans who like to drive, and autoworkers who like to make, cars that are large, heavy and safer than the gasoline-sippers that environmentalists prefer.
Some environmentalism is a feel-good indulgence for an era of energy abundance, which means an era of avoided choices. Or ignored choices--ignored because if acknowledged, they would not make the choosers feel good. Karl Zinsmeister, editor in chief of The American Enterprise magazine, imagines an oh-so-green environmentalist enjoying the most politically correct product on the planet--Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Made in a factory that depends on electricity-guzzling refrigeration, a gallon of ice cream requires four gallons of milk. While making that much milk, a cow produces eight gallons of manure, and flatulence with another eight gallons of methane, a potent "greenhouse" gas. And the cow consumes lots of water plus three pounds of grain and hay, which is produced with tractor fuel, chemical fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides, and is transported with truck or train fuel:
"So every time he digs into his Cherry Garcia, the conscientious environmentalist should visualize (in addition to world peace) a pile of grain, water, farm chemicals, and energy inputs much bigger than his ice cream bowl on one side of the table, and, on the other side of the table, a mound of manure eight times the size of his bowl, plus a balloon of methane that would barely fit under the dining room table."
Cherry Garcia. It's a choice. Bon appetit.
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