Rhetorical Fallacies, Essay Example

Fallacies pervade the mass media and in the dissemination of news in order to construct discourses in ways that fit narratives according to political ideology or purpose. Recently, an explosion of opinion pieces and television segments about Caitlyn Jenner, a former Olympic, gold medal winning decathlete who transitioned from being a male to a female, has taken place because she was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs award show. In one piece, D.L. Hughley argued that Jenner did not deserve the award because her courage in coming out as transgender and publically transitioning from being a male to a female was incommensurate with the courage evinced by Arthur Ashe. Moreover, Hughley claims that Jenner merely came out as transgender as a crass media ploy in order to draw more publicity to herself and her family. In this story, the post hoc fallacy is unequivocal because Hughley’s logic claims that Jenner merely came out as transgender not because of her own desire to free herself from the crippling effects of living a life as male even though she felt female but because of her insatiable desire for media attention. In addition, the article presents a causal relationship between Jenner winning the award with ESPN’s desire to boost its ratings by appearing progressive. The fallacy referred to as false dilemma also appears in this article, as the author limns a narrative in which the reader believes that supporting Jenner and ESPN’s decision to award her with a courage award is superficial because her intentions render her courage obsolete. Either an individual believes ESPN was intrinsically wrong for its decision or he or she is glib for supporting the network. Such a portrayal creates a dyadic understanding of the situation and ignores the nuances of the issue of Jenner coming out as a transgender and publically transitioning despite the fact that as Bruce Jenner she epitomized American masculinity in a deeply embedded patriarchal sports culture. If Jenner’s speech encouraged other transgender people to stand up for their equal rights and not take their own life, then she should be lauded for her courage as a sports icon to transition so publically.

Works Cited

Kelly, Ray. “D.L. Hughley: Caitlyn Jenner Did not Deserve ESPY Award.” Mass Live. 18 Jul. 2015. Web. 19 Jul. 2015. http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/07/dl_hughley_caitlyn_jenner_did.html

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