For Argument's Sake

A drunken Indian got run over by a bus. His friends vented their anger on public property, by overturning a few vehicles, torching some police cars and running amok until they got bored and exhausted.

This would have been a fairly commonplace sequence of events in most cities. Singapore was not meant to be one of them. Following the ethnic riots of the 1960s, the city-state under Lee Kuan Yew had enforced a series of measures to ensure small sparks did not lead to major conflagrations.

Unfortunately this is exactly what happened last week. Temporary migrant workers of Indian origin let loose their anger and frustration on public property. The police was at first taken aback but finally when the dust settled, 30 workers were booked, many were imprisoned or deported. While all this was going on, it was interesting to see what was happening on the sidelines.

One particular 'average singaporean' went overboard with his allegations about Indians in general, and in reply, this is what one Mogan Das had to say -

useful article.i was looking for a piece of writing for my students that will demonstrate fallacies in argument.you seem to have covered nearly all - ad hominem, burden of proof, reductive fallacy, argument from false authority,use of cliches, confusing correlation and causation, appeal to coincidence, false cause amongst many many other fallacies...in such a short article furthermore.i don't know where you were educated but it certainly paid off. i didn't know that people like you actually existed. people posting comments here may call you a degenerate and a dehumanized piece of asswipe, rightly so if i may add, but i still need to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this 'excellent' piece of analysis that will entertain my students for years to come.

Humor and sarcasm aside, I was not able to differentiate some fallacies in argument. Here is a refresher recap:

* Ad hominem - Attack on the character of a person rather than his arguments
* Burden of proof - Also known "appeal to ignorance" this fallacy places the burden of proof on the wrong side

For a full list of fallacies, please check the Nizkor Project link.


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LINKS

http://therealsingapore.com/content/stop-humanizing-banglas-indian-fts

Logical fallacies - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/659/03/

The Nizkor Project - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/659/03/

Catching Up

So much to read, so little time! :(

I had been so busy chasing the TsukubaU documents that I now find myself with a pile of untouched reading material. Sunday "Eye's" from Indian Express, Tehelka magazines, EPWs, and many newspapers folded inside out, waiting with news of the ongoing Olympics; of the sudden eruption in J&K; of roads and houses ravaged by the extended monsoons and SIMI's alleged expertise in serial bombings...

The first magazine I picked today was the Tehelka of 16/08 and two pieces struck a chord. The first one was an article, "Guardians of our secret hometowns" by Sudhir Mishra, director of the amazing Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi. He writes about his childhood in Sagar and the friends he grew up with, one of whom turned out to be Dr. Binayak Sen who "embraced what everyone wanted to escape". An excerpt -

"Because he is not from Bollywood, he would not have been able to give his opinion on all subjects, from public toilets to higher education, but then life is not perfect and the paychecks would have compensated. Instead, he chooses to go to a place where instead of appreciation he gets locked up in jail!...where the people who run the place are using him as an example to all those who dare raise their head that if they don't retreat, they will face the same fate as him...".

The full text is here.

The second article was the interview of Richard Castra. I had not heard of him or his books before, but his opinions made a lot of sense. I have been reading the much-talked-about "Sea of Poppies" by Amitav Ghosh and I found myself grudgingly agreeing to Castra's view that most of Indian literary output is controlled by the West -

"You cannot be a professional writer unless your main focus is on the Western market. That's how they end up ruling us. Another method: the Brooker.The Brits always give prizes to well-behaved brown boys who served their purposes. Rao Bahadur and Order of the British Empire. Who the hell are they to give us prizes? Why don't we give then prizes? "The Cooker Prize for Docile, Well-behaved Brit Writers" and "The Order of Lalu", whose recipients will have to kneel while Lalu knights them

Now, where can I get my hands on "The Revised Kamasutra"?