Logical Fallacies

Logical Fallacy refers to a structural flaw in an argument which renders it invalid.

Ad Hominem refers to a argument that can be attributed to the speaker's personal beliefs of background.

False Casualty - an argument that states that an event is caused by another, without providing a logical connection between the two.

Red Herring - purposefully changing subjects to make your argument appear stronger.

Overgeneralization - an argument that is too vague or simple, so that it could be applied to anything.

Bandwagon Effect - the act of doing or believing in certain activities or ideas simple because everybody else does or believes; following a fad

(Yeah, Marissa and I did this yesterday)

Huck Finn Practice Test

1) A
2) B
3) B
4) A
5) A
6) B
7) B
8) A
9) A
10) B

11) C
12) B
13) D
14) C
15) C
16) B
17) A
18) B
19) D
20) D

21)
22)Buck Grangerford
23)Mrs. Judith Loftus
24)Jim
25)
26)Colonel Sherburn
27)Jack
28)
29)Tom Sawyer
30)
31)Boggs
32)
33)Harney Shepherdson
34)The King
35)
36)Huck Finn
37)Pap Finn
38)
39)
40)
41)Sophia Grangerford
42)Judge Thatcher
43)
44)Silas Phelps
45)
46)
47)
48)Tim Collins

Women Writers

Based solely on our reading in this class, it would appear as if women writers deal with less serious issues than male writers, but when novels from both sexes are stripped of their critic's ribbons, it becomes clear that the majority deal with social dilemmas, and the only perceivable difference is in the context. In the Bean Trees, Kingsolver used snide humor to deal with such dilemmas as large as the repercussions Native Americans have faced as a result of American imperialism, and in Farenheit 451, Bradbury used symbolism and irony to warn people of technology's power to enslave us; Both are very serious issues, and many parallels could be drawn between the two.

Podcast about Thoreau

1. What is the host's view of Thoreau?
He believes Thoreau's works to be the founding script of the United States.

2. What is Kathryn Todd's view of Thoreau?
She feels that he has almost no concern for community or partnership.

3. What are the advantages of living your life like Thoreau? What are the disadvantages?
Living like Thoreau will teach you to criticize, to examine, to question everything, and by doing this, you may learn from your mistakes, but at the same time, if you think of the past negatively, you may lose valuable ideas that it has to offer. The key is to examine life and decide for yourself what is right and what is not.

Civil Disobediance

Currently, I am very displeased with the United State's foreign policy. It should be kept to a minimum. If we just took a step back, and focused on our own problems, our ethics, instead of criticizing other countries for aggression, imperialism, torture, environmental harm (because we share many of their procedures in that regard), then the United States may become, once again, the most free and respected nation in the world.

The key to this amount of change is a low, minimum amount of effort, by a large amount of people. Simply having your opinion heard may seem like a small step, but voicing it raises awareness, and the government will not be able to ignore the people. If they do, we must prepare ourselves for a great change, be that revolution or civil protest; if the government resists our will, we must find a way to overthrow the government.

Google Jockey

Henry David Thoreau - He strongly opposed the Mexican-American War. He protested by not paying his taxes, which went towards what he thought was an unjust war.


Do the Right Thing - The movie deals with social oppression.


Seattle 1999 - "Boldly confronting capitalist opression"



Cindy Sheehan - She's a political activist. Her son died in the Iraq War and ever since she's protested the war.

Renegades of Funk

In the song Renegades of Funk, Zach de la Rocha talks about how people like Thomas Paine and Malcom X both contributed to social justice in their respective time period. He admires their dedication, boldness, and leadership.