The word fallacy is defined as "a deceptive,misleading or false notion or belief; a misleading or unsound argument; erroneous or invalid reasoning that renders arguments as logically unsound. A fallacy is usually an improper argumentation in reasoning resulting in a misconception or presumption. Fallacious arguments are often structured using rhetorical patterns that obscure any logical argument.
From Latin fallacia , comes fallax deceitful, and from fallere to deceive. Synonyms for fallacy are:"misconception,delusion,misapprehension".
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said this:"The United Nations human rights system plays an important role in combating racism and ensuring effective implementation of the final outcome document of the anti-racism Review Conference...racism is well alive all around the world...a renewed international engagement against racism is as urgent as it has ever been. As we face a multitude of crises that will dearly affect our standards of living, the risks of renewed racism and xenophobia are too evident for us to ignore...we have identified several concrete measures and initiatives at all levels to combat and eliminate all forms of racism...
Clearly racism is not a fallacy as far as the United Nations are concern,but a certain News24 user thinks it is. Why though? What are the three reasons racism could be classed as "lucrative fallacy"?
Racism "fallacy" number 1: The good old straw man. The racially abused individual or persons build up an argument that you(the "racist") didn’t make because it easy to attack. They do so and then claim victory.
Racism "fallacy" number 2: Fallacy of a false cause or the non-sequitur.The fallacy is when the abused person or group incorrectly concludes that one thing is the cause of another. It's like saying because a vile Afrikaner group in 1948 brought in racist Apartheid, is enough evidence to suggest all white South Africana nowadays are tiny bit racist as well.
Racism "fallacy" number 3: Cherry-picking. A small group of hard-line,can't get over Apartheid is gone Afrikaner Broederbond people amongst million or so other white South Africans proof racist is still with the entire race. The abuse conveniently ignore the millions of others who don’t engage in such absurd rhetoric and focus on the minority to proof their point.
Its more pleasant and reasonable to debate with a liberal than it is with a partisan. Liberals debate issues honestly,whereas partisans look for fallacies to resort to. Usually it becomes a vicious cycle. Fallacy after fallacy after fallacy and needs to be declared over before it began. Some people just don't want a honest debate.
Some people understand racism in a limited and misguided way. Racism has to do with ideas and prejudices. A collection of nasty thoughts one has about another group brings forth a racist individual. The fallacy is to think of racism the same way as one does of crime and which divides the world into two types of people:
1.Those guilty of the crime of racism i.e., a racist and those innocent of the crime i.e., the nonracist.
2.Intentionality of becoming a racist is crucial. It's a misconceived notion that racism is intentional. For example: Do I cross the street to the opposite side because I was scared of the black or coloured man walking towards me, or did I just cross for no apparent reason and for the sake of crossing? Unintentional racist the answer would be no that's not the reason I cross given as reason 1 instead it was for the 2nd reason.
Conflating racism with racial prejudice ignores the more systematic and structural forms of racism that accounts for racism that is woven into the very fabric of our schools, political institutions, labour markets, and neighbourhoods. Labelling someone a racist shifts our attention from the social and structural surroundings that enforce racial inequalities to the individual with the biases. Racism is sometimes very habitual, unintentional, commonplace, polite, implicit, and well-meaning. Its is located in our intentional thinking and action,spilled out in our disposition and habits where it thrives.
The issue with Black pathology...
Multicultural South African liberals has a powerful rationale to reject the classic racist assertion of white superiority. However the solution to an old problem creates and becomes the source for a new one. Black pathology which are are things like high rates of poverty, crime, rape, imprisonment, unemployment, fatherlessness, out-of-wedlock births, drug use and dropping out of high school has trapped liberals in so-called prisons that prevent them from acknowledging and supporting any policies that uphold any standard of responsibility.
Racism is therefore an opinion that recognises real civilisational differences and attributes between them as to biology. Preserving the distinction between race and culture are to reject and deny their biological foundation. By explaining group differences in academic and economic performances by pointing to the cultural differences,justifies the notion why some cultures are seen to be functionally superior to others. A racist biologise culture.
South African poor black people's problems can only be solved through a program of cultural reconstruction in which society plays a supporting role but which is carried out primarily by black people themselves. Staying race neutral would mean blacks will remain uncompetitive, and then equality of rights for individuals will lead to dramatic inequality of result for certain groups in South Africa, and that would take us back on the path of racial preferences. Antagonisms are remains high,but at least moving towards a society where blacks would be the ones themselves to finally discredit racism is a big step forward for South Africa.
Will South Africa ever reach a point where race issue ceases to matter?
References:
1.World English Dictionary.
2.The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
3.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000814/081475eo.pdf.
4.abagond.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/black-pathology.
5.www.media-awareness.ca/english/.../logical_fallacies.
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