Vote for Senator Wong. He knows how important your concerns are.
I decided to complete exercise 9 from chapter 10 due to this year's election. It's likely to hear arguments stating how a senator or congressman cares about your concerns, then most fail to meet their goals. The argument, "Vote for Senator Wong. He knows how important your concerns are", is an example of a feel-good argument. As Epstein defines, a feel good argument is an argument that appeals to our wanting to feel good about ourselves. In this example, it attempts to make the statement feel good about ourselves and our concerns because "he knows how important your concerns are". The argument tries to imply that Senator Wong cares about your concerns, and if you vote for Senator Wong, he will make an effort to those concerns. Although the statement gives you a feel good message, the argument is bad because the argument is vague. Everyone's concern is a broad the argument is just for voters to feel good about voting for him.
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ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I just wanted to say thanks for posting this blog. After the elections were over, I felt the same way you did. I also saw how the concept of a feel-good argument could be put into play after this past election. You gave us readers a good example of what this concept would be like if we had applied it in daily life. It was really easy to understand and see how it would be applied in daily life. I at times feel the same way how you were describing in your post. Thanks for the blog!
I really agree with your post. During the election time, the politicians will make many promises in the effort of trying to win people's vote. In your example of Senator Wong, I think that the quote is trying to win everyone. The quote did not specifically referred to any promises or anything in particular. Instead, it talks about "your concerns" in general. This statement is vague, there fore it cannot be a good argument. However, the main point of the statement is not intended to be an argument so much as to convince people. The statement is trying to convince people by appeal to their emotion, make them feel good and important. So, I definitely agree with your explanation of the statement. Nice job!
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