AI experimentation is high risk, high reward for low-profile political campaigns
AP reported that a PAC opposing Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins used an AI-generated attack ad that put his face on a chastened student in a principal's office. The case is a clean example of vivid, emotionally loaded presentation doing persuasive work that policy argument still had to do for itself. The fallacy here is Appeal to ridicule: mockery, embarrassment, or derision is used in place of showing why a view is false. That matters here because ridicule can make a position look silly without ever testing whether it is wrong. A better analysis would remember that laughter is not an argument.
Associated Press · 2024-06-17
Key takeaways from a debate that featured tense clashes and closed with a Taylor Swift endorsement
AP's September 10, 2024 debate takeaway piece captures how often nationally watched debates pivot on baiting, reframing, crowd-pleasing jabs, and memorable lines rather than patient argument. It is a compact real-world lab for straw manning, redirection, and emotionally charged reframing. The fallacy here is Appeal to ridicule: mockery, embarrassment, or derision is used in place of showing why a view is false. That matters here because ridicule can make a position look silly without ever testing whether it is wrong. A better analysis would remember that laughter is not an argument.
Associated Press · 2024-09-10
Debates about religion, feminism, climate, and AI are often reduced to memes whose purpose is to make one side look ridiculous rather than to assess the actual claim. The fallacy here is Appeal to ridicule: mockery, embarrassment, or derision is used in place of showing why a view is false. That matters here because ridicule can make a position look silly without ever testing whether it is wrong. A better analysis would remember that laughter is not an argument.
Online discourse frequently treats a sarcastic dunk or quote-tweet pile-on as if public humiliation itself were refutation. The fallacy here is Appeal to ridicule: mockery, embarrassment, or derision is used in place of showing why a view is false. That matters here because ridicule can make a position look silly without ever testing whether it is wrong. A better analysis would remember that laughter is not an argument.
