Dangerous Logical Fallacy

OK, we've all seen the ads on TV for some alarm company where some creep is watching an innocent woman or child or both and kicks open their front door in broad daylight. All of a sudden, an alarm shrieks to life, the criminal makes eye contact with his intended victim and runs off.
I can't tell you how much these ads offend me. First of all, anyone fucked up enough to kick in the door of someone's home in broad daylight is not going to turn tail and run off just because some alarm goes off. The first thing they are going to do is get hold of their victim to control their movements, that way they can keep them away from any exit or phone. The next thing they'll do is bind the victim with something so they can be controlled with minimal effort. So by the time the company monitoring the alarm system lets the phone ring the required number of times, they then have to determine whether it's a genuine emergency or someon'es talking on their phone & just doesn't want to answer the call-waiting signal (I do that all the time), they then call 911 to alert the authorities. You think the cops are going to show up in time to save you? Ask Nathan Lee how that worked out:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/28/florida.murder.kidnap.911/index.html?iref=newssearch
His wife was kidnapped, raped and then murdered while she was talking to 911! Ok, they may not have heard the gunshot that killed her but fuck! Five calls to 911 did sweet fuck-all to help this poor woman. It broke my heart to listen to her calls & it made me angry at the impotence of the "system" that so many people count on for their safety. If you worry about safety for yourself & your family, learn how to avoid or take care of trouble. I have dogs & guns, but let's be honest, that's not a universal solution & won't work for everyone. Same for Martial Arts. But you can do something, just find out what that something is and do it.

That's a classic example of Appeal to Emotion, a logical fallacy used to prove a point without resorting to actual facts. Any time you see an ad that implies "what you have is not good enough" whether it's your SUV, sunblock or alarm system, they are appealing to your emotions rather than your rationale. They count on your ego, lust, ignorance and fear to motivate you to buy the latest & greatest products, namely theirs. Why else would someone buy a Cadillac Escalade? It's the exact same vehicle as a GMC Yukon, just dolled up so they can charge a shitload more money for it, because isn't a Cadillac better than a plain-old GMC?
The whole SUV craze was based on an appeal to emotion: "Don't you want your family to be safe?" - an appeal to fear, because it's been proven time and again that SUVs are less safe in accidents; "How impressed would your neighbors be if you brought home a Lincoln Navigator instead of a boring old Ford Explorer like they have?"- an appeal to vanity or pride, because they never explain why the Navigator is a better vehicle, just that it's an impressive display of wealth & it will make your neighbors jealous of you; "You can do anything or go anywhere! It's sporty and useful!"- an appeal to vanity again, because the only time 99.9% of SUVs go off-road is when their drivers are drunk, and minivans are way more utilitarian. But don't minivans have their own logical fallacies attached to them? "It's not Manly," "It's a 'MommyMobile,'" are classic appeals to vanity. You don't need a 6000 pound all-wheel-drive vehicle to negotiate the strip malls of Suburbia

Bring on the Hate Mail!

I'm going to come right out and say it: Michael Jackson's death is no great loss. I'm actually surprised he didn't kill himself years ago. Now, before you get your Underoos and sequined gloves all in a twist, I'll explain my position.
First of all, he's a fucking pedophile, or more specifically, a pederast. Yeah, yeah, he was never convicted blah blah blah....what the fuck ever. That's just a prime example of our "justice" system being the best money can buy. Why else would he flee the country that loves him so much? Oh, that's right, to escape any further prosecution, if someone decided they needed more Hush Money. Only the Catholic Church spent more money in that area than he did, but let's be honest, they had quite a few more people to hush than he did, not to mention all those moving vans, more PR people, and all those out of work Fantasy writers who did their press releases, I'm sure it was a logistic nightmare.
Second, he was a complete fucking whacko. I'm not talking about the one glove or all the plastic surgeries (although that is a fucking horror show in its own right), or not wanting to grow up. No, I'm talking about the guy who slept in a hyperbaric chamber, bought the Elephant Man's skeleton to display at his house, dangled his newborn over a balcony, and the list just goes on and on. I think he single-handedly kept the Enquirer & other rag mags in business during the 80s and 90s. Don't believe me? Do a search for the "art" from Neverland, it's fucking disturbing.
Third, his legacy is a mountain of debt. He may have been called the King of Pop, but could have been King of Paupers. Some estimates give a figure near $400 MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS!
What the fuck? He's worse with money than Mike Tyson?

Here's how I'll always remember Whacko Jacko: holding someone's cock.

Then there were things he did that really made him look pretty much like a dick. He outbid Sir Paul McCartney for a catalog of Beatles songs, when anyone with any kind of class wouldn't even have considered bidding, period. I mean, McCartney wrote or co-wrote those songs, not to mention recorded them. Then he got a chance to shake hands with President Reagan, who I thought was also a huge prick. And when he shakes Reagan's hand, he left his stupid glove on. Talk about buying into your own hype! The only Americans that should leave their gloves on when shaking hands with the president are Servicemen in dress uniforms.
He's just another tragic figure in a long line of musical trainwrecks, but the way people seem to be carrying on, you'd think he was on a par with Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Jim Morrison, or John Lennon. He's not. Not even close. Too many equate record sales with talent, and it's just not so. He was a decent singer that MTV, adolescent girls and good timing turned into a superstar, whatever that is any more.
Just another kid that got turned out on the airwaves of corporate whoredom. Like I said, no great loss.

Well, bring on the hate mail, with your pathetic bleating that will most assuredly fall on deaf ears.

Where To Find Real News

Well, now that you're all caught up on the latest activities of (insert name of talentless media whore here), it's high time you got into some real news. I'm talking about the important items that will have an effect on your life that's inversely proportional to the amount of coverage they received in the media.
Project Censored is my newest link on this page, and they have a list of the top 25 news stories in the world from 2007 that were ignored for the most part in today's corporate-run press, probably because they don't generate the same ratings (read: revenue) as the drug- and/or alcohol-fueled antics of overprivileged, under-talented, flavor-of-the-month celebrities.
Personally, I don't care if Paris Hilton releases a sex video featuring her being gang-banged by what's left of Michael Vick's dogs, it's just not newsworthy to me. I would rather know how my elected officials are spending their time and my money. I would also like to know how badly the current "Emperor's New Clothes" regime has fucked me over and trampled my civil rights this week. For a bunch of guys sworn to defend and uphold the United States Constitution, you'd think at least one of them would have read the fuckin' thing.
Turn off your goddamn Hi-Def Plasma Electronic Lobotomy for one night and use the Internet for something besides watching 15 second clips of low-grade porn and find out what's being done in your name! I enjoy my rights and value them enough to fight for them, and if I have to mow down hordes of obese, ignorant fucking sheeple, I can and will. So wake the fuck up and stop being part of the problem and try being part of the solution.